The Bonds of Spirit are stronger than the Bonds of Blood
by CelticDragonLadyWarrior
Summary: After losing the close bonds they once had with their siblings, Sirius Black and Lily Evans find themselves forming a strong, sibling-like bond.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Lily Evans was saddened. Her dear sister Petunia wasn't speaking to her. She called her a freak, then stopped speaking to her entirely. What had happened to them? Before she came to Hogwarts, Lily and Petunia had been thick as thieves. Then everything changed. Petunia grew distant; slowly at first, then more swiftly than she could imagine Petunia had effectively cut Lilly out of her life. Slowly she swung on the swings of her favourite park, sadly noting the absence of her sister in the neighbouring swing.

Sirius Black had found himself the black sheep of the family the moment he was sorted. In a family of Slytherins, he had been placed in Gryffindor; the House of Lions, the mortal enemy of the House of Serpents. He had been close to his brother, Regulus, before their sorting. Then, slowly but surely, Regulus stopped speaking to Sirius. They became enemies; not by choice, not exactly. Circumstance had torn them apart, and Regulus had followed in his parents' footsteps; thinking only of blood purity and the reputation of the family. Sirius struck out on his own, following his heart.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

It was finally time to begin a new year. Once again Lily's parents escorted her to Platform 9 ¾, dragging along her reluctant sister Petunia. Lily hated this part. This was only her second year at Hogwarts, but the tradition had begun; Petunia remained in stubborn, angry silence no matter how many times Lily tried to strike up a conversation. All this had started because Petunia was a muggle, and was unable to go to Hogwarts with Lily. Some days this made Lily wish she had never discovered her magic. But even so Lily couldn't help but love the magical world she had stumbled across. Her friends were wonderful, and she wouldn't trade them for the world. However, it was never quite right. Her friends were sympathetic, sure, but none of the truly understood what it was like to lose the type of bond she had held with her sister before all of this began. She hoped that one day she would find someone who would know exactly what she was going through. With a sigh, she bid farewell to her parents and Petunia before stepping aboard the scarlet train.

Sirius had been waiting for this day all summer long. His attempts to bring his brother back to his side had failed over the dreaded holiday. Why couldn't Regulus understand that the family was wrong? There was more to life than blood purity! That was a completely rubbish measure for the worth of a person! He thought he and Regulus would be close forever, but once again his family had struck and taken away the goodness before it could properly grow in the next generation. At least he had managed to get some peace over the summer when he hid over at James' house. Sirius was glad he had made such an incredible friend on that first train ride to Hogwarts last year. The quartet he had found himself a part of seemed to be the closest of friends since day one; especially Sirius and James. But none of them knew what he was going through. They were kind enough, but they didn't understand what it was like to lose that bond that close siblings have. He shook his head as his brother shunned him once more and stepped up onto the train that would bring him to the only place he truly called home.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Lily found herself alone in the compartment. Her friends had rushed off to chase some third year boy. Lily shook her head as she remembered their reaction to seeing the "hot transfer student" heading towards the front of the train. Lily had to admit he was cute, but she didn't see the point in chasing after some boy. Her thoughts turned to Severus, her first friend. They didn't see each other nearly as often as they used to. It couldn't really be helped as they were in different houses, but she still enjoyed what time they did get to spend together. After all, he was the one who told her all about Hogwarts and the wonder of the world that awaited her. She hadn't seen him on her way to the train; she hoped he was alright. Some of the other students seemed to treat him so cruelly. Just because he wasn't rich and had been sorted into Slytherin! It was really unfair of them. She hoped she would run into Sev on the way to the castle so they could catch up on what happened at the end of the summer. The two hadn't gotten a chance to meet over the last month of summer, and Lily wanted to know what had kept him away for so long. She had been on a family trip for the first week, but the following three had left her feeling utterly alone. While she loved family trips, her sister always made her feel like such an outcast. She would ditch Lily at any chance she got, making Lily feel even more alone than she had before. With a sigh, she sat back and resigned herself to finishing the train ride alone and in silence. At that moment the compartment door slid open.

Sirius wandered the corridors searching for his friends. They had planned to meet up at the station so they could sit together again, but Sirius and his family had been running late. Now he found himself alone, searching compartment by compartment for a familiar trio. He had been searching for a while now and had yet to find them. They had to be here somewhere, right? After all, how else were they supposed to get to the castle? His mind started to wander as he searched. He had wandered into a compartment that first year to find two others there before him. Practically instantly the trio became inseparable. Then Peter had joined them and the quartet was complete. All four had been excited to discover what house they would be in and what secrets the castle held. The sorting proved their meeting had to be fate; the hat had placed all four of the boys into Gryffindor house, ensuring their quartet wouldn't need to break apart. Sirius smiled at the memory, continuing his search. Suddenly a flash of red caught his eye. Peeking into the compartment, he noticed a lone girl sitting by the window. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the urge to talk to her. He had wanted to find his friends, but after searching through several carriages worth of compartments he figured it was time to give up and relax for the remainder of the ride. And better to spend the time with someone than to be trapped in a compartment alone with his thoughts. With a smile on his face, Sirius opened the compartment door.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Lily looked over to the door, and spotted the wavy haired teen. Ah, the infamous Sirius Black, she scoffed in her head. Nearly every girl in their year swooned over the boy. Lily never understood why. Sure he was handsome, but he was so arrogant! He stalked around the castle like he owned it! A small nagging thought kept telling her that it was just a façade, that no one could really be that arrogant. But Lily often ignored this thought, as she found the boy obnoxious. She nearly rolled her eyes at his ridiculous grin, waiting for him to say something in an attempt to get her to react like any other girl in their year. But his words surprised her. "Mind if I join you? Looks like we've both been ditched." He said. His friends had ditched him too? But those four were inseparable! With a shake of her head, she said "Not at all." She gestured to the seat across from her and waited for what he would say next. So far he was being rather polite. It was practically as suspicious as him being away from his friends.

Sirius was surprised when he got a closer look at the girl. It was Lily Evans, the girl who had shrugged off every attempt at conversation James had made. It was interesting to find her alone. Usually she was surrounded by the gaggle of girls that she had befriended back in their first year. She certainly wouldn't fall for any of his attempts at charm, unlike the other girls in their year. So he decided to just be polite, in the hopes of not being kicked out of a moving train! With a slightly embarrassed smile, he said "Mind if I join you? Looks like we've both been ditched." He couldn't believe he had managed to lose track of his friends already, and the year hadn't even begun! When he glanced at her, she shook her head and said "Not at all." He gratefully took a seat across from her. They quickly dissolved into an awkward silence. Sirius was beginning to regret this decision. Now he was trapped with his thoughts and someone who clearly didn't enjoy his company. Trying to escape his thoughts, he turned his gaze towards the corridor. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of Regulus.

Unable to help himself he muttered "Reg…" The two caught each other's glance for a moment, before Regulus broke it to chase after his friend. Sirius couldn't help but frown, the pain evident in his eyes. The moment he spoke, Lily turned her attention towards him. She noticed the look he had shared with a Slytherin boy, then the look of pain that followed. Wait, didn't Sirius have a brother? That must've been him! But why did the younger boy leave so swiftly? Curious, she drew up her courage and spoke. "Was that your brother?" Startled from his thoughts, Sirius turned toward the red head and said "Ah, yeah. Though we're not as close as we used to be." He didn't know why he was telling her this, but some small part of him hoped she wouldn't think he was pathetic for feeling so hurt over this change in relationship. He looked up at her next words. "I understand that well. My sister and I have become rather distant… Ever since I first came to Hogwarts." The two shared a sad, understanding smile. It seemed they had more in common than the house they had been sorted into.


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

After a moment of fidgeting Lily said "So… Is this the part where we swap stories?" She hadn't told her friends about the trouble she had with her sister. At least, nothing more than the simple statement that they weren't the closest of siblings. Sirius gave a light chuckle and said "Ladies first." Lily smirked in response and sarcastically said "What a gentleman." She sighed before beginning her story, part of her regretting bringing this up. "Well, Tunie, er Petunia and I used to be really close. We were the best of friends! And then I discovered my magic… Things were alright between us for a while… Until I got invited to attend Hogwarts…" She trailed off as she remembered the day. "She wrote to Professor Dumbledore to see if she could join me here, but she got turned down. When it was time to take the train for the first time, I told her I would speak to him myself. That maybe I could convince him to allow her to join the school. But she just called me a freak and began to ignore me…. And now she acts like I'm nonexistent…"

She sighed, closing her eyes to regain her composure. Determined, she looked Sirius in the eyes and said "Alright. Your turn." Sirius nodded. Her story wasn't too different from his own, and now he would finally tell someone else what had happened. "Reg… Regulus and I come from a family of Blood Purist Slytherins… That is until I got sorted... My family isn't exactly agreeable, especially when it comes to those who show the slightest ounce of independent thought. So I was glad Reg was at least on my side…. For a time, anyway…" He trailed off, memories of the terrible days he spent trapped in that horrible house flooding his mind. He frowned, before continuing. "He started to ignore my letters half way through my first year…. I guess being trapped in that house he couldn't help but think like them…. I had some hope when he was sorted… Sure he was sorted into Slytherin, but the hat hesitated! I thought… maybe, he would start speaking to me again… Instead, I lost my brother to my family…." He glared at the floor, wishing he could have done something to prevent this.

With a pained smirk he said "And that's my story. Not particularly exciting, but entirely true." Lily found herself beginning to understand the boy. He wasn't actually arrogant. He just put on an act so no one would see how hurt he was. She smiled and said "Well, true stories are more interesting than fiction." At her words, Sirius laughed and said "Maybe they are… Even if they are utter tragedies!" The two shared a smile, settling in to the now comfortable silence as the train neared its destination. Though they had never properly spoken before today, they found they were free to speak about matters they had never shared before. Finally, they had found a kindred soul. As the train pulled into the station, the pair stood to gather their luggage. Lily opened the compartment door, noticing her friends near the exit. Turning once more to Sirius, she said "I guess I'll see you in the common room, Mr. Black." With a smirk, Sirius said "See you around, Ms. Evans." With those words, the two parted; heading off to meet their friends.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Sirius made his way to the common room alongside his best friends. His heart felt lighter after having shared his story. As they walked, James rambled on about his summer and all the amazing things he had done over the rather short vacation. Everyone knew he was lying, but it was still fun to hear what his imagination could come up with. His current story seemed to be about a wild hippogriff rampaging through his backyard. And there's the face he makes when he gets to the best part of the story. "Just as it was about to crash into the house – Boom!" And cue the gesture for an explosion of incredible proportion. "There was this great big fire ball! Right where the hippogriff was! And when the smoke cleared, there was this old man standing there mumbling on about how foolish everyone is!" This was met with tremendous laughter, of course. All his stories, while unrealistic, did manage to keep the others entertained. Sirius took the moment to observe his friends. James was in the middle, as usual. He tended to be the centre of their adventures, so it made sense for him to be the centre of their group.

On James' left was Remus. Remus had been a bit odd right from the start. He was a bit skittish when the boys had first met back on their first train ride to Hogwarts. Sirius smiled at the memories. He and James had met first. Not too much later, Remus appeared in their compartment. He and James did most of the talking in the beginning, but soon enough Remus joined in and the trio was complete. It was like they had been friends for years! The three of them spent the majority of the train ride just chatting away. Until they were joined by a small mousy boy, that is. That was Peter, who was currently trailing slightly behind the group. He was rather timid when he first joined them, and he still seemed timid quite often, but the boys all became fast friends. Sirius threw his arm around James, laughing at some joke he had not properly listened to, and walked up to the portrait of the fat lady. Remus said the password, as he was the only one in the group who could remember what the password was on the first day each year, and the quartet entered the common room.

Lily had been relaxing in the common room with her best friends since the feast ended. It was quiet for the moment as most students were still in the Great Hall, too full to move properly just yet. So her little trio enjoyed the peace while they could. Alice Winchester was chattering on about what she did over the summer, which was primarily nothing. That was perfectly to her liking, as she did quite a lot during the school year. Lydia Williams was listening intently and adding little tid-bits of her own holiday adventures. Lily smiled and nodded along politely, but her mind wasn't focused on the conversation. Instead, she found herself thinking about Sirius Black. She certainly hadn't been expecting to share her story with anyone, let alone a boy like him! And to think he wasn't all that she had thought! She was just about to answer the girls' question as to her own holiday when the portrait swung open. And in stepped the very person she had been thinking of, alongside his three best friends. Their eyes met as he passed, and the pair traded a nod of greeting. One thing was certain; this would be an interesting year.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Sirius found himself pacing in front of the great fireplace in the Common Room. It was the middle of the night, yet sleep continued to elude him. Earlier he, James, and Peter had discovered that their dear friend Remus was in fact a werewolf. A werewolf! Now it didn't frighten the boys; they just wanted to find a way to help him. His transformations left him isolated and in pain and Sirius was not going to allow that to continue. But how could he possibly help? A human taking on a werewolf was rather a stupid idea, but there had to be someway the three boys could keep their friend in check during the dreaded full moon! If they could change shape, maybe they could be more useful to their friend. But how were they supposed to change? And what form should they take? Magic had a lot of solutions to problems, but this one seemed just out of reach for even a wizard. As he paced, he found himself falling deeper and deeper into his thoughts. It was at this moment that another joined him in the empty Common Room.

Lily found herself unable to sleep. She had tried everything she could think of to get her mind to shut down, but despite her best efforts her thoughts kept running in a loop. Sirius and his friends had seemed a bit off today. She couldn't figure out why, but sometime between their heading out to the grounds to goof around as usual and their return to the Great Hall something had changed. Remus had been rather fidgety. He kept moving the food around his plate with his fork. James kept trying to act normal, telling stupid stories that no one believed and joking. But even then the awkward air remained. Peter was even quieter than he usually was, something Lily couldn't believe was possible. And Sirius… Sirius spent the entire meal in contemplative silence. Lily had no idea what was on his mind, but he had clearly been determined to find an answer. Ever since the pair had shared their stories on the train, it seemed like they could read each other's actions a lot better. They had spent odd moments, mainly breaks from classes when their friends were busy with other matters, getting to know each other better.

One free period, while Alice and Lydia were off preparing for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, Lily found herself alone with Sirius in the Common Room. James had had detention at that time, while Remus and Peter had decided to gather up supplies for the next class. The duo spent the time swapping stories of their time at home. Lily spoke more about her relationship with Petunia and how, even when they were at home, she ignored Lily and refused to acknowledge her existence. Sirius sympathised, as Regulus had been doing the same whenever the pair found themselves in the same room. Though there were moments where Sirius could swear Regulus was acting like his old self, trying to show Sirius kindness in a house full of cruelty. But he never had any proof of this, so he often swept the thoughts aside as wishful thinking. Lily had been thinking about their conversations often. She was glad that she was able to see this other side of Sirius. And she was glad to have found someone who understood her plight. Finally giving up on sleep, Lily walked down the stairs to the Common Room to find Sirius pacing in front of the fire. Curious, Lily spoke. "Sirius? What's got you so agitated this evening?"


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Sirius' head jerked up at the sound. He relaxed when he saw it was Lily. He wouldn't spill Remus' secret, but a bright witch like Lily might have some idea of what to do! With a strained smile he said "Ah, Lily… I could really use your help! I have a theoretical question. If, hypothetically of course, a wizard wanted to change into another creature, what would he have to do?" Well, there was no turning back now. Sirius only hoped that Lily would have some sort of idea, and that she wouldn't ask any questions. Sirius wasn't one to ask for help, he could generally get through anything on his own, but he was desperate to help his friend. And if it meant finding a way to ensure Remus wouldn't have to suffer through the full moon anymore, then he was willing to do whatever it took. He watched as she puzzled over the question; clearly she had questions of her own, but she wasn't speaking any of them aloud. After a long silence, she finally spoke. "Well I suppose Transfiguration would be the only way, though I'm not exactly sure how. Professor McGonagall would have those answers. But why? Why do you need to know this?" And there came the question Sirius had been hoping she wouldn't ask. He didn't want to lie to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth. It was up to Remus to decide who to tell and when. He fidgeted in place, while trying to act calm, as he attempted to answer her. He knew that at this point anything he said would come out sounding like a stupid excuse, but what other choice did he have? Working up an awkward grin, running a hand through his hair, he sighed before giving her his lame, noncommittal answer.

Lily was dumbfounded when Sirius finally spoke. A wizard turning into some other creature? Why would he want to know about that sort of thing? Did it have something to do with why he was so pensive at dinner? She could tell by the serious look in his eyes that this question meant quite a bit to him, so she racked her memory for any ideas. Well transfiguration was the best bet, but she had no idea what spell would be useful. Were there spells to turn into specific animals at will? If so, they likely wouldn't learn about it for years. Maybe Professor McGonagall would know what to do. With that thought in mind, she answered Sirius before finally asking the question that had plagued her mind since he spoke. He seemed hesitant, practically awkward. This was a side of him Lily doubted anyone had seen before. Finally, he spoke. "Just curious, heh, yeah, just an odd thought…" He trailed off, clearly lying. Lily found it strange just how flustered he was. Sirius could lie well enough; he did on a daily basis, but this, whatever it was, seemed to be keeping him trapped in this awkward state. As he fidgeted and laughed awkwardly, Lily decided to drop the matter and let him keep this secret he so desperately wanted to remain a secret. With a smile she said "Well then, I suggest you talk to Professor McGonagall tomorrow. Goodnight, Sirius."When she walked away, Sirius replied "Goodnight Lily." Sighing in relief, he thought over her words. Transfiguration was definitely the key. If he was careful, maybe McGonagall would tell him everything he needed to know without him having to out Remus as a werewolf. With these thoughts on his mind, Sirius returned to his bed and attempted to get some sleep.

The next morning he dragged James with him to Professor McGonagall's office. James looked around the hall sleepily before saying "Where are you *yawn* taking me Sirius?" Sirius, determined in his mission, kept dragging James along as he replied. "To McGonagall's office. I've got an idea for how we can help Remus! So just trust me, and follow my lead!" Finally reaching their destination, Sirius knocked on the door. The second it opened, he pushed James inside before following and closing the door. Professor McGonagall stood there dumbfounded at the sight before her. Not only were there two students in her office, but they were two students notorious for arriving late to their first class of the day! "Potter? Black? What is the meaning of this?!" Sirius was the first to speak up. "Well you see Professor, we have a question for you. If a wizard wished to change into another creature, what would they have to do? Just a hypothetical question, of course!" Professor McGonagall was confused at first, but then it clicked. She didn't show it, but she understood their meaning. Raising an eyebrow, she waited for them to continue. Sirius spoke up again. "If, say, a wizard wanted to turn into an animal at will, could he?" Eyes refusing to give away any hint of her understanding, Professor McGonagall said "What you speak of is only able to be done by trained Animagi. It is some powerful, and dangerous magic to learn." Sirius and James exchanged a look. Determined, the boys faced their professor once more. Sirius said "Hypothetically…" James interrupted "Theoretically…" Sirius finished the thought with a smirk "What would it take to become an animagus?"


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Professor McGonagall eyed the two boys as she thought. It was an interesting idea. The quick witted witch had already figured out their plan, how they sought to use the form of an animagus to aid Remus while he was trapped in his werewolf form. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell them the truth. She would just have to make sure they understood the importance of its secrecy. A glint in her eyes, she said "Becoming an animagus takes mastery of self-transfiguration; being able to shift one's own body at will without incident. Through meditation and self-transfiguration practice, a wizard will discover his animagus form. He may shift his hand into a paw, or a claw, or even a wing. Skin can be shifted to fur, shell, scales, or feathers. During training it proves useful to keep a mandrake leaf at hand. After intense training to shift into their animagus form, a wizard is able to take on their animgus form at will with ease." She levelled the boys with a stare, before smiling and saying "But of course, this is purely hypothetical." Smiling at their stunned faces, she ushered the pair out the door and said "Good day you two. Try not to cause too much damage today." Her work done, she closed the door, leaving a pair of shocked students standing in the corridor.

Sirius was utterly speechless. McGonagall not only helped them, but she gave them everything they needed to know! She didn't ask any questions, she just told them what it would take to help Remus. He turned to James, finding a smile most likely identical to his own spreading across his friend's face. The shock wearing off, the two boys couldn't help but burst into laughter. As they laughed the pair started heading back to Gryffindor tower. Smirking Sirius said "So, shall we begin by getting some mandrake leaves? You still have your cloak with you, right?" That cloak really came in handy. Any time they wanted to sneak off for a prank, all they had to do was slip on the cloak and they were off! James rolled his eyes and said "Of course! Just have to get to my trunk and we are ready to go! Where do you think the leaves will be? In Slughorn's potions supplies? Or maybe in the greenhouses?" Sirius thought about it, saying "How about we start with the greenhouses? If they aren't there we can just drop by the potions supplies, and then we can get to work on this plan!" The two boys nodded to each other, silently agreeing that this should be kept secret. Remus was a bit of a worrywart, so they figured it would be best to keep this from him until they could actually change into an animal. Now the real work began.

Lily was gathering up her class supplies in the common room, waiting for her friends to finish getting ready for the day. Lydia and Alice spent hours each morning getting ready; constantly changing their hair style until they deemed it perfect, adjusting their uniforms to look just so. Lily shook her head at the thought. She couldn't understand why they had to waste so much time on such trivial matters. They could be spending the time preparing for class! But perhaps she was more excited to learn as she was a muggle born. Growing up surrounded by muggles does not prepare anyone for the wonder of the magical world. As she finished packing up her remaining textbooks, James and Sirius burst into the common room. She watched on curiously as James raced upstairs, shouting something about Sirius being brilliant. Once they were alone, Lily turned to Sirius and said "I take it that you managed to find the answers you were looking for?" Sirius grinned sheepishly and said "Yeah, thanks to your suggestion. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what the plan is or why it was necessary." Lily still didn't understand what this was all about, but it was clear just how important it was to Sirius. So she nodded and said "I understand. It's clearly important to you, so I won't ask you to tell me. I hope your plan succeeds." There were muffled crashes coming from the boy's dorm. Lily laughed and said "Good Luck! See you in class!" Sirius smiled and nodded his thanks as Lily left the common room.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

Sirius watched as James stumbled down the stairs with the invisibility cloak. "I got it! Now let's go!" James said as Sirius shook his head and laughed. "Alright, alright, I get it! So where should we go first? Potions supply or greenhouses?" The duo thought as they raced down the stairs towards the ground floor. Deftly jumping to the landing before the stairs could move again, Sirius looked around. After making sure no one was nearby, he pulled James off to the side, ducking behind a statue in the corridor. With determination, James looked up at his friend and said "Alright, let's start with the potions supply. Slughorn should have a few leaves stashed away for some potion or other, right?" Trading smirks, the pair slipped on the invisibility cloak and headed off towards the potions classroom. It would be empty at this time; after all it was still breakfast. As the pair walked, they passed by many students running towards the Great Hall, clearly trying to avoid missing out on a chance to feast before classes began. Sirius and James had to carefully dodge several packs of students on their way out of the crowded corridor. Finally in the clear, the pair sighed with relief. Sirius signalled to James to continue the journey, and the pair made their way to the potions classroom.

Finally reaching the dark room, the pair nimbly dodged the tables and headed straight for the supply room. Once there, they found themselves surrounded by a cornucopia of supplies. Dragon's blood, runespoor fang, knotgrass, bicorn horn… Every potions ingredient imaginable seemed to be there! Sirius eyed each shelf carefully, picking up vials and jars to examine the labels more closely. There seemed to be no real organisational system here. At least, it wasn't a system that Sirius understood. So he had to look over every single vial on each shelf. Finally he found something promising. Mandrake roots, both whole and chopped, were stored in the corner of the room. However, none of the vials anywhere around it seemed to have the leaves. He found an empty vial, which could have held the leaves, but it was unlabelled. Sirius groaned and said "Great! This was a complete bust!" James smiled, ruffled his friend's hair, and said "Then it's off to the greenhouses! We'll get those leaves! Don't worry!" Sirius smiled and said "Of course, there's no way we can give up now! To the greenhouses!" With that Sirius led the duo outside under the cover of their trusty invisibility cloak. Sirius vowed that he would find the mandrake leaves, train to become an animagus, and show Remus that he didn't have to be alone ever again.

Heading towards the great doors leading to the grounds, Remus and Sirius ducked behind some statues to avoid catching Filch's attention. They watched as he crooned to his beloved cat, holding their breath to avoid drawing any attention to themselves. As the dreaded caretaker's footsteps faded away, the duo cautiously treaded out into the corridor once more. After double checking the corridor for any witnesses, Sirius quietly opened the door just far enough to allow him and James to slip through. James pulled the door shut behind them, leaving a small enough gap to allow the pair to open it again when they returned. The first greenhouse was unlocked, as Professor Sprout had stepped out to gather some supplies from other greenhouses to prepare for the first class. Thanking their lucky stars, the boys slipped into the greenhouse and began to look around. On the far side of the greenhouse there were rows of recently replanted mandrakes. "Perfect!" Sirius said as he pulled James over towards the mandrakes. Picking up a pair of pruning shears, he said "You keep watch; I'll grab some of these leaves… How many do you think we'll need?" James turned around to watch the door and said "Grab a few… like 6 if you can! We don't know how many it'll take, but it couldn't hurt to have extra, right?" Sirius began clipping off leaves, carefully to avoid pestering the living alarm clocks, and said "Right!" With his work finished, he nudged James and the duo raced back to the castle. After carefully hiding the leaves within Sirius' Transfiguration book, the pair carefully snuck into their first class of the day.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Lily was diligently taking notes when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning to get a better look, she saw Sirius and James nonchalantly sitting in their usual spot; which had been empty when class began. James seemed his normal self, if a bit out of breath, while Sirius seemed about to burst with joy. Lily smiled as she turned her attention back to the professor. Clearly whatever they were doing was successful so far. Lily was glad to see her friend so happy. She'd love to know what was going on, but she had promised not to ask any questions. So she would just silently wish for his success. When the lecture was finally over, she gathered up her supplies a bit slowly. She met Sirius' gaze as he left the room with his friends, giving him a smile. When he returned it, she got the feeling he understood. Lily finished packing up thinking about how strange this year had been so far. It started out just like the year before, with the trip to the train being utterly awkward with Petunia ignoring her existence. Then suddenly she found herself sharing her story with the notoriously arrogant Sirius Black. She quickly learned there was a lot more to him than anyone could possibly imagine! And now the two of them were incredibly close, despite the secret he was so desperate to keep now. They seemed to just know what the other was thinking or feeling with just one look. Lily certainly hadn't imagined anything like this could ever happen, but she was glad it had! Heading out the door to catch up with her friends, she couldn't help but wonder what else this year had in store for the newly formed duo.

Sirius and James had dragged Peter with them to one of the hidden empty rooms they had found their first year. Remus was busy, diligently working on the mountain of homework that was due the next day. This gave the trio the perfect chance to try out this human transfiguration thing. Sirius had no idea how it would work, but he was willing to try anything to help Remus! Peter looked about ready to bolt, looking around the empty room for an escape route. James just looked excited. Finally, Sirius decided he should explain before Peter hyperventilated. "So James and I finally have an idea for how we can help Remus. It's gonna be difficult, but it's the best chance we have!" He said, watching as Peter's eyes lit up. The mousy boy managed to find his voice and said "What?! How?!" Sirius and James shared a smirk before saying "We become animagi!" Peter looked stunned at the duo while Sirius told him all that Professor McGonagall had told them that morning. When he finished, he said "We can't tell Remus any of this! He's such a worrywart he'll only try to stop us! We'll show him once we've figured out how to turn into our animagus forms completely. That way he won't have to worry!" James and Peter nodded in agreement. They both knew just how much of a worrier Remus was, and neither wanted to make him worry any more than he had to. But now came the difficult part, figuring out how to become animagi. Sirius looked at his friends and, after some silence, said "So, how should we begin?"


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

The trio looked at each other in silence, trying to figure out what their next step would be. There were completely committed to this path, but they needed to decide how they should begin. If they started asking questions, others might interfere. Or worse! Remus could find out what they were up to! Sirius closed his eyes, running through all that Professor McGonagall had told him and James earlier, searching for some sort of hint as to what they should be doing. They already had the leaves, even if they didn't know what they could be used for. She had stressed the training and… Of course! Sirius opened his eyes and said "Of course! Human transfiguration!" The other two looked at him, confused by the sudden outburst. Sirius rolled his eyes and said "We need to work on transfiguring ourselves to become animagi right? So maybe we should be starting by just growing or shrinking ourselves! Starting out small of course, maybe just start with our fingers?" Digging out the old, battered copy of the Guide to Advanced Transfiguration they had taken from the Transfiguration classroom, Sirius flipped through the index until he found what he was looking for. Swiftly turning to the page he needed, he began skimming the text, looking for any clue as to how humans could transfigure themselves. Finally, he found the section he needed. Sirius read the passage aloud. "Here it is! Human Transfiguration takes a great amount of concentration. Unlike other forms of Transfiguration, there is no wand motion or set incantation to help channel a wizard's focus. Instead, the wizard must focus on the magic within them, send it flowing to the part of their body they wish to change, and concentrate! Concentration is key! Even the slightest hesitation could lead to some disastrous results."

Closing the book, Sirius turned to his friends and said "Well, here goes nothing!" He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he felt the magic flow through him. Slowly, he began to picture the magic moving towards his fingers. He could feel the bones shift, stretching until they were nearly double in size. James and Peter gasped, prompting Sirius to open his eyes. Looking down at his hands in shock he muttered "I can't believe that actually worked…." He wiggled his fingers, surprised how easy it was to manage these odd yet familiar appendages. Concentrating again, this time keeping a careful watch on his fingers, he slowly, but surely, managed to return his fingers to normal. With a bright grin he said "Well, this isn't too bad! If we practice enough we'll be animagi in no time!" Sirius was relieved. Not only did they have a plan, but it was working brilliantly so far! Soon enough they'd be able to tell Remus and help him properly! Sirius watched as both James and Peter attempted to do as he had done. James had closed his eyes and seemed to be doing alright. He looked like he was meditating as he sat calmly on the floor, hands out in front of him, fingers splayed, as if he were trying to cast some grand spell upon the room. His fingers began to grow, ever so slowly, but at least he was properly transfiguring himself. Peter, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling. He kept twitching at odd intervals, hands shaking as he attempted to concentrate. Sirius put a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder, smiled at the mousey boy, and said "Just relax, take a few deep breaths, and concentrate. You can do it!" Giving a timid smile in return, Peter followed Sirius' advice. Taking a few moments to breathe and relax, he began to properly concentrate, and soon enough his fingers had doubled in size. Sirius smirked and said "See! I told you!" The trio continued practicing shifting their fingers for a few hours before returning to the tower, satisfied by their progress.

Lily had been growing concerned. Sirius and his friends kept disappearing during free periods, only returning when curfew was in effect. This kind of disappearance was normal; they did spend their time lost in their own world. But this was different. They left Remus behind, finding an excuse for him to remain. More often than not Remus would make the excuse, needing to grab more supplies for a class, or diligently working on his homework and ignoring the world around him. Each time the trio would vanish down a corridor, and return with those stupid grins plastered to their faces. While she and Sirius still spoke often, she didn't have the heart to ask him what was going on. She had promised not to pry after all, and he seemed a lot happier than he had been the night he asked her for help. But she couldn't help but worry that they were up to something dangerous. Lily watched as Sirius left the Common Room, their eyes meeting as Sirius gave her a reassuring smile. He seemed to have some idea of what he was doing, but Lily couldn't shake the feeling that he was putting himself in danger. Though they had only really gotten to know each other this year, they had become incredibly close. Lily couldn't explain it, but their bond felt like the one she had shared with Petunia before she discovered her magic. Lily was determined not to lose this bond. Even if Sirius was confident, she wanted to make sure he wouldn't end up getting hurt! She didn't want to contact any of the Professors, that'd be rather drastic and could result in losing this new found kinship. She couldn't turn to Professor McGonagall, even though she was their Head of House. So who could she possibly turn to? Her eyes fell upon Remus, as he wrote yet another essay, and her mind was made up. Stepping over to the quiet boy, she said "Hello Remus. I know we don't really talk, but I'm worried. Sirius and the others keep disappearing. I think you should go check on them."


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

Remus was buried in a stack of books, writing yet another essay for History of Magic. He wasn't sure why he bothered, as Professor Binns hardly ever graded the homework he assigned. Still, not wanting to lose points, he decided it'd be best to just complete every assignment just to be sure. While he was looking into the causes behind the Goblin Rebellions, he heard a voice just above his head. Looking up he found Lily Evans, one of the brightest witches of their year. He tilted his head curiously as she spoke to him, saying "Hello Remus. I know we don't really talk, but I'm worried. Sirius and the others keep disappearing. I think you should go check on them." His jaw dropped slightly, as he looked around the room for confirmation. He was surprised to find his friends no longer in the Common Room. How long had he been working? How had he not noticed them leave? Judging by her words, the trio had been leaving like this for quite awhile. He knew he could become absorbed in whatever assignment he worked on, but he couldn't believe that he had never noticed his friends leaving. He grew worried. Sure they had been incredibly kind after finding out he was a werewolf. Honestly, he had expected them to be at least somewhat weary of him after that. But they never treated him any differently. Instead, they carried on as if he wasn't this dangerous creature. Remus was certain he was still a danger to them, but so long as they were willing to have him around, and so long as he could maintain some semblance of control, he would be there for them no matter what. But now they were disappearing without a word to him. Thoughts ran through his mind. Did they hate him now? What if they didn't want to be his friend anymore? These panicked thoughts circled through his mind as he tried to find the words to respond. Determined to find out what was going on with his friends, he muttered "Thank You." Then he quickly left the Common Room to find answers.

Remus paced the corridor outside of Gryffindor Tower. He had managed to make it out here, but he had no idea where to go next. There were plenty of secret areas the quartet had found since arriving at Hogwarts, but his friends could easily be hiding somewhere new. If they were up to something, they wouldn't hide out in one of their usual haunts, so that at least narrowed down the possibilities a bit. He headed down a narrow corridor towards one of the secret rooms they had found, hoping to find at least some trace of his friends. But as he reached the room and saw it was dark, he knew it was a lost cause. He continued along the corridor, taking another hidden corridor, until he reached another empty secret room. He searched every secret door, every hidden corridor, and every hidden alcove he could think of, but he still couldn't find his friends. Disheartened, he began to make his way back toward Gryffindor Tower, head down as he tried to sort out his thoughts, when he suddenly heard laughter. Following the sound, he turned through several small corridors, winding around in a circle trying to find the source, when finally he came across an old door he hadn't come across before. Remus hesitated outside of the door. What if inside were professors? Or some other members of staff? He could get in serious trouble for this! But it could also be his friends, tucked away in a hidden room to do whatever they had planned. Taking a deep breath, gathering his courage, he opened the door just enough to see inside, and took a look around. Inside he found his friends, laughing. Well, he had found two of them at least! Sirius and Peter were laughing, clutching their sides as they tried to remain standing. Curious, Remus tilted his head and looked toward the other side of the room, opening the door just a fraction more. There he saw James, arms and legs double their usual length, walking about using the four limbs like a performer on stilts. What in Merlin's name were they up to?! Finally, he flung open the door and said "By Merlin's beard! What are you three up to?!"

Sirius used his arms and legs to dance a small jig, the doubled limbs performing surprisingly well. It had taken him a few tries to get the arms to transfigure properly, but it was well worth it. James and Peter were laughing up a storm, James clutching the wall to keep from falling while Peter had long since lost balance and just twitched on the floor as he laughed. Sirius smirked, laughing a bit, before taking a few calming breaths. Concentrating, despite his friends' incredibly loud laughter, he managed to shrink his arms and legs back to normal. Lifting Peter off of the floor, he shoved the boy towards the other side of the room and said "Alright, your turn!" Peter nervously stood in place, before taking some calming breaths. Copying the motions Sirius had taken, Peter slowly started to transfigure his arms and legs. Doing this with four limbs at once was certainly a lot more difficult than just transfiguring the arms or legs separately. Peter took twice as long as Sirius to complete the transfiguration, but he did manage to succeed. He tried to raise his arm into the air, raising a cheer, but lost balance. He wasn't used to using four legs instead of two, so he quickly stumbled to the ground, despite his best efforts to stay upright. James and Sirius laughed at this, before going to stand beside him. With James on one side and Sirius on the other, they managed to get Peter upright once more. Peter gave them an embarrassed smile before transfiguring himself back to normal. Sharing a grin with Sirius, the two pushed James into the spotlight, cheering for him to try out this latest step of their transfiguration process. James bowed, lapping up the attention, before steadying himself before activating his magic. After intense concentration, he managed to double the length of his arms and legs, standing like some sort of majestic deer, posing in the corner of the room. Peter and Sirius burst out laughing, trying desperately to avoid crashing to the ground as they watched James. Suddenly the door burst open and in came Remus looking utterly bewildered and angry. He shouted "By Merlin's beard! What are you three up to?!" James looked at him like a deer in the headlights while Peter cowered behind Sirius, hoping Remus wouldn't notice him. Sirius gave an embarrassed smile, stepped towards Remus and said "Ah, we were hoping you wouldn't find out yet, we were going to tell you later! But, well, ya see, I can explain everything!"


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Guiding Remus into the room, Sirius sat down cross-legged in the centre of the floor. James returned his arms and legs back to normal while Peter smiled apologetically at Remus before sitting on Sirius' right. James sat down on his left while Remus sat facing the trio, looking incredibly irritated and slightly scared. Sirius took a deep breath before speaking. "We wanted to help you, Remus, so you wouldn't have to be alone during the full moon. So after quite a bit of thought, I suggested the idea of transforming ourselves into something else, like an animal. I dragged James to McGonagall's office and she told us all about animagi, the wizards who can change into a specific animal at will! She told us, well indirectly told us, how we would need to practice Human Transfiguration, and mentioned we'd need these mandrake leaves, not entirely sure what for but we got plenty of em! We knew if we told you about what we had planned we'd only worry you, so we snuck off here to practice. We were going to tell you all about this as soon as we had a better grasp of this type of transfiguration. But isn't this great? Soon enough we'll be able to keep you company during the full moon and you won't have to worry about hurting us!" Sirius finished his explanation with a bright grin, happily awaiting his friend's reaction, while James and Peter nodded. James spoke up in the silence. "We know you've dealt with this on your own for years now, but you shouldn't have to do that anymore. We want to be able to be there for you even when the full moon forces you to keep your distance from everyone else." He said, giving Remus a gentle smile. Peter smiled at this and said "Yeah! What kind of friends would we be if we didn't even try to be there for you?" The three looked eagerly towards Remus, awaiting his answer. Sirius was worried that Remus would be mad at them for going so far, but there was no way he would stop now. He would help Remus whether he was willing to let him or not!

Remus looked at his three best friends, utterly astonished. They were willing to put themselves at such risk, for him? He thought over their words, noticing the battered copy of Advanced Transfiguration and the mandrake leaves which were sticking out of the cover. Shaking his head he gave them a smile and said "I can't believe anyone would do so much for me… When I found out you were gone I thought… maybe you regretted being friends with someone so dangerous…" He trailed off as he found himself engulfed in a great hug. Lifting his head he found James, Sirius, and Peter embracing him at once. James said "Now why would we regret becoming friends with you?" Peter added "You can't get rid of us so easily! We'll be friends till the end of time!" Sirius chuckled and added "If we didn't want to be friends with you anymore, why would we keep hanging around you every chance we get? Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little danger!" He winked at this, causing Remus to laugh. With a smile Remus said "Alright, alright, I get it! But if you are going to become animagi we are going to do this properly! Firstly, no more sneaking off without me! Someone has to make sure you lot don't kill yourselves trying to transform! Secondly, we are doing some proper research on this. You have some mandrake leaves, right? But you don't know what they are for! With something this intricate you can't afford to mess or take steps out of order! We'll need to check and see if the library has anything on this kind of transfiguration…." He trailed off as he started to formulate a plan for how to move forward. Sirius grinned as he watched Remus plan. Finally everything was coming together nicely! He traded glances with James and Peter, relieved that they could now work together as a proper unit, instead of hiding things and sneaking off to act on their own.

Lily was anxiously pacing in the common room, awaiting Remus' return. He had been gone for quite a while, as the common room was now entirely empty of students. She hoped he hadn't run into any trouble. Granted she didn't really know Remus, but Sirius really cared for him so Lily remained worried. She vowed to speak with him more if she got the chance! After all, unlike the others he was studious and actually cared about following the rules. And he was always polite, even if the person he was speaking with only berated him for some small accident. He seemed like he would be an amazing friend, but Lily couldn't help feeling like he was hiding something. She thought, maybe, like Sirius he was hiding some serious scars that no one seemed to notice. Mid-pace she heard the portrait swing forward and quickly hid on the staircase to the girl's dorm. She didn't want to interfere with anyone coming through, but she hoped to at least find out how Remus, Sirius, and their friends were. Peaking around the corner, she found Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter, all arm in arm and smiling. She sighed with relief, releasing a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. At least for now they were safe, and if Remus was smiling then all was well. As they headed towards their dorm, she overheard part of their conversation. "So we'll need to hit the library as soon as possible, we definitely need some clearer instructions on this whole process." Remus said as he climbed the stairs. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll go hunting for information tomorrow, alright? For now just relax! At least we have some sort of a plan! We aren't going into this completely blind, ya know!" Sirius responded, sending the quartet into a bought of laughter. As their footsteps echoed and died away, Lily couldn't help but wonder what they meant. What process? Were they studying? Was Remus forcing the others to take their school work more seriously? If not, then what exactly were they up to? These questions burning in her mind, Lily headed back upstairs to hopefully get some sleep.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

The next day, after classes had finished, Remus dragged his friends to the library. Literally. He had to grab hold of Sirius' collar, who then grabbed hold of James' collar, and drag the duo towards the library. He wasn't sure why the two were so opposed to the library, maybe it was too quiet for their liking, but at this point they had no other options. Peter shuffled along behind the trio, laughing at the antics of his best friends. Remus rolled his eyes as the pair made small whining sounds, breaking only to sigh in frustration. Without turning around, or stopping, he said "Oh come on! You act like I'm dragging you to your death! It's the library! It's safe! If anything it has the greatest arsenal in the world! Especially for what we mean to do, so just suck it up!" He shook his head at their behaviour and continued down the corridor to the library. Entering the immaculate room, he set his sights on the massive book cases, looking for the section that would hold the books they needed. He scanned the titles along each shelf carefully. Transfiguration and You, Transfiguration for Beginners, Notable Failed Attempts of Transfiguration, How Not to Transfigure, Lives of the Transfigured, Advanced Transfiguration Made Simple. So far nothing seemed promising. Looking around, he found himself in a dark corner of the library. The titles of the books in this area were worn and difficult to read, so he kept pulling out books to hopefully find one that would prove useful. Finally, he grinned as he pulled out a stack of books that looked like they could have the answers the quartet had been looking for. He carried the stack towards one of the tables, dragging Sirius behind him, and quickly split the pile into four equal shares. Sitting down, and directing his friends to do the same, he said, quietly, "Alright, the answers are bound to be in one of these books. If we all look together we can find it faster and you won't have to stay in the library any longer." He smirked as James and Sirius immediately grabbed their stacks of books and got to work. It was fairly simple to get them to do what was necessary if there was a promise of immediate fun to be had! Sharing a smile with Peter, he set about looking through his own stack of books.

Sirius sighed as he distractedly flipped through yet another transfiguration book. Honestly he really enjoyed reading, but the intense quiet of the library was stifling. It reminded him too much of the house he escaped at the beginning of each school year, or even during the summer if he could manage to sneak off to James' house. Shaking himself from the memories, he attempted to concentrate. This was important after all! That's right! He was doing this for Remus! He had to focus! Straightening up, he determinedly scanned each page of the book, looking for even the slightest hint of the answers they were looking for. The book he was looking in only held instructions for transfiguring creatures into humans, which was the exact opposite of what he needed! Practically slamming the book shut in annoyance, he slid it to the side and opened the next, unaware of the confused looks he was receiving. Ten books later, he finally found something promising. Carefully reading through the passage, grin growing every second, he turned the book towards Remus and said "Take a look at this! Mandrake leaves and their use in Human Transfiguration!" He smirked as Remus quietly read the paragraph aloud. "Mandrake leaves are used in the most difficult form of Human Transfiguration, Animgus Training. The animagus in training must hold the mandrake leaf in their mouth for one month straight. If at any point the leaf falls, the wizard must start over. Over the course of this month, the wizard must meditate on their animgus form. On the final day, their animagus form will be revealed to them and the final stage of training can begin." The quartet shared blinding grins at this revelation. This had been just what they needed! Sirius thought about the instructions and said "Well, we all knew this would be incredibly difficult, but it's worth a shot, right?" When the others nodded in agreement, he grinned and said "Well then, time to grab those leaves. If we are stuck with them for a month, we might as well get it over with!" Leading the others, he gladly took the chance to leave the oppressive silence and return to the comfort of Gryffindor Tower.

Lily was studying for the upcoming exams, trying to remember everything that had been taught since the first day of class. In the middle of practicing a particularly difficult charm, which she knew would be on the practical portion of the exam, she jumped up, startled, as the portrait swung open and four pairs of footsteps echoed through the common room. Looking up she found Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter racing off towards the dorms. They looked utterly elated, about what she didn't know, but she was glad to see them all together again. Sure they caused a lot of trouble when they were together, but it was certainly better than seeing them apart and looking distraught. She wished she knew what was going on with them, but she couldn't break her promise to Sirius. No matter how curious she was, she would honour her word. She returned to her studies, or at least attempted to. The quartet swiftly returned down the stairs, ran past her muttering something about leaves, and rushed out of the common room and down the corridor. Shaking her head at how lively they all were, she set about practicing her spells again. Those four surely kept things interesting! After a few more tries, she realised she wouldn't be able to study properly after that interruption, so she packed up her things and left the common room as well. Following the stairs, she found herself at the door to the grounds fairly quickly. It was a nice day, and there was still plenty of time left until curfew, so she stepped outside and tried to find a peaceful place to study. She let her mind wander, remembering the fun summers she had had with Tunie before the Hogwarts letter had arrived. She smiled a bittersweet smile, wishing her sister hadn't shut her out. Then her mind turned to Sirius. She couldn't believe how different he really was! He always acted so arrogant and confident, like the world belonged to him. But really, he was just hurt and looking to find kindred souls to bond with. Looking at him now, it was surprisingly easy to read his true emotions. She didn't understand why she hadn't noticed before. Perhaps, she was so blinded by his act that she didn't think to look closer. Regardless, she was glad she had gotten to know the real Sirius, and she was proud to call him her friend. After sharing their stories, and all the time they spent together, she was tempted to call him family.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

It had been only two days since they began their month long trial and Sirius was already frustrated. The mandrake leaf kept getting stuck in between his teeth, scratching at his gums as he tried to speak. He kept trying to make it stick to the roof of his mouth, but it refused to stay put! Not to mention it made his voice sound weird. That was why he kept trying to hide it in his cheek, but when he moved it back it'd just cause problems! He nearly spit out the leaf so many times, and it was only the second afternoon! There were still twenty eight days left! Sirius frustratedly slammed his head into his textbook. Remus, who was sitting beside him, laughed and patted his friend on the back saying "Just think, twenty eight days and then you never have to do this again!" Sirius groaned into the book, turning his head slightly to glare at Remus. Remus laughed once more and returned to his homework. Sirius found himself daydreaming, imagining just what form he would take when this was all over. Maybe he would be a lion, majestic and beautiful. He liked the sound of that. Or maybe he would be a fierce dragon! Could animagi become magical creatures? He could have some serious fun if they could. Or, heck, maybe he would be a dog. People loved dogs after all! They were cuddly and doubled as protectors. He tried to imagine what life as a dog would be like, deciding that if that was his animagus form he wouldn't mind. Later, well after curfew, the quartet snuck downstairs from the boy's dorms and found a comfortable spot in the common room. Remus insisted on being there during these meditation sessions, even though he wasn't a part of the training. He had said that he wanted to repay them for all their hard work by staying with them through each remaining step until they became animagi. They couldn't turn him away, despite the need for sleep, because really all this effort was being made for him. If he wanted to be there with them and lose sleep, then far be it from them to turn him down. The four formed a circle, shared a smile, closed their eyes and started to meditate. Two nights down, and only twenty eight more to go!

They followed their nightly ritual each night until, finally, a full month had passed. This was their last day of meditation and holding the ridiculously irritating mandrake leaves in their mouths. Sirius was ecstatic! Soon enough he would find out just what his animagus form would be and then it's on to a bit more practice, and finally being able to help Remus during the full moon! The quartet was sitting around the common room, while everyone else was preparing for class. Sirius had a thought. Since they were a special group, shouldn't they have a new name? Speaking up, he said "You know what we need? A group name! Something special that really defines us!" The other three began to think. What could they possibly call themselves? Peter was the first to speak up. "What about the Golden Gang?" The rest immediately dismissed the idea. It was utterly ridiculous! Next was James. "How about the Dynamic Dangers?" Sirius laughed at that one, but the others just shook their heads and resumed thinking. Finally Remus spoke up. "Well, since we always manage to find trouble, and half of us actively look for trouble, how about we call ourselves the Marauders?" The Marauders. Now that had a nice ring to it! Sirius said "That's perfect! The Marauders! Gentlemen, welcome to the beginning of the Era of the Marauders!" The others laughed as they nodded their agreement to the new name. Feeling more unified than ever, the four boys gathered up their supplies and headed off to their final class of the day. Sirius couldn't remember a single word that was said in that class. He was too busy day dreaming about being an animagus, and all the adventures he would get up to with the rest of the Marauders. He smiled as he thought on their new name. Remus was right, it really did suit them! Now they had a proper group name, and a plan, all that was left was to finish their training and enjoy the rest of their days at Hogwarts. A nudge from Remus jolted him from his thoughts as the friends returned to the tower, ready to see what the night held for them.

After double checking that everyone was asleep, the quartet snuck down to the common room, took their places in a circle beside the fire, and began to meditate. Sirius managed to clear his mind, finding the image of an open field appearing in his mind. As the image became clearing, bringing with it the feeling of a cool summer breeze and the sounds of wildlife, he felt his skin begin to shift. He reached up to touch his left arm, rubbing it gently as the skin changed. It felt rough at first, as it was transitioning, but then it felt soft, like fur. His hand and arm slowly started to shift as he felt the fur, changing to something that definitely wasn't human. Opening his eyes, he realised his had had become a paw, and his arm had become a leg. Looking at it more closely, he realised his arm had taken on the form of the foreleg of a black, shaggy dog. Looking up he found James had managed to shift form as well. His arm had also formed the leg of an animal. His arm was much thinner, looking both delicate and strong and the same time, and his hand had shifted into a hoof. It was clearly that of a deer. Interesting! Peter seemed to be struggling a bit, but slowly he began to shift form as well. Instead of his whole arm shifting, he seemed to be shifting in other ways. He grew whiskers near his nose, and his ears changed shape. They became perfectly round, with grey fur. If he had to guess, Sirius would say his animagus form was a rat. That could prove useful to their mischief! He wasn't sure how it would help Remus, but he was certain they would figure something out. The others opened their eyes and looked at each other. Sharing a grin, they all removed the mandrake leaves and returned their limbs to their proper state. Sirius was the first to speak. "Finally! Now all we have to do is practice shifting into our animagus form and then we are golden!" James laughed and said "McGonagall was right! That was ridiculously difficult! I can't believe we managed to pull it off in one go! I thought for sure we'd have to start over several times with those stupid mandrake leaves!" The quartet laughed as quietly as they could, not wanting to alert the sleeping Gryffindors of their new found ability. Sirius said "Tomorrow night, we begin phase two of the plan. For now, we should probably get some sleep while we still can." Nodding in agreement the four friends quietly returned to their dorm and slept.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

The following night, Sirius led the quartet to the hidden room where they had originally been practicing. Carefully following the twisting and turning corridors, they found the hidden room without running into anyone. They had a near miss on the staircase. Mrs. Norris, Filch's beloved snitch of a cat, had been patrolling at the same time they had been sneaking off. But Remus, ever the prepared member of the group, swiftly dropped some pieces of turkey from that evening's feast. Mrs. Norris was more than happy to ignore the boys hidden beneath the invisibility cloak in favour of devouring the delicious scraps. After giving what seemed to be an approving nod in the boys' direction, she remained quiet and ate without giving any hint of sounding the alarm. Relieved, the boys continued on their path. Fortunately for them, there were no other patrols to avoid on their route, and as such they made it to their destination fairly quickly. Sirius opened the door, noting that the room was exactly as they had left it. It was mostly empty, clearly an old forgotten store room, with decrepit shelves along the walls and some cushions stacked in the far corner. On one of the shelves was a small supply of candles, most of which had been here before the boys had started using the room. Some newer candles were found among the supply, taller and clearly unused as of yet. Taking one of the older candles, standing at half the height of the newest candle, Sirius lit it. He then used that candle to light a few others before setting them into the candelabras on the wall. The room properly lit, he turned to his friends and said "Now we are ready. We know our animagus forms, so all that's left is practicing shifting into those forms! So…. Who wants to go first?" James smirked and volunteered while Peter shrunk back and tried to avoid focus. He knew he had had difficulty just finding his animagus form, so he was certain if he tried first he'd just make a fool of himself. Sirius noticed Peter's reaction and gave him a sympathetic nod, allowing the smaller boy to step back with a sigh of relief. Sirius sat on the ground facing James, Peter on his left and Remus on his right. The trio watched and waited with bated breath as James attempted to fully transform.

It was slow at first, a slight shifting of skin to fur, but soon enough the transformation became more obvious. First his arms and legs shifted. His elbows became knees, his limbs covered in soft, short fur. Finally his hands and feet formed the cloven hooves of a deer. Standing on all fours, James then concentrated on his torso. Ever so slowly, he shifted, growing fur, bones shifting into the proper placement of a fully grown deer, until finally he was a deer with a man's head. Now came the really difficult part. James grew nervous, understanding the risks that came with transforming one's skull. Taking a few calming breaths, he slowly began to shift his skull. First, he grew an impressive pair of antlers, the bone appendages sticking out of his hair almost as if they belonged there. Then his face began to shift, elongating at the nose and jaw before forming a muzzle. He gritted his newly formed herbivorous teeth to fight back the pain, his transformation slowing as he tried to maintain concentration. Peter covered his eyes at this point, terrified of seeing his friend in pain. Remus and Sirius continued to watch, concerned, but kept to their seats. They knew if they interfered it'd cause trouble for James, interrupting his concentration and potentially causing him more pain than if he managed to finish this transformation properly. After quite a while of careful watching, the pair noticed James' ears start to change. They sighed in relief, glad that their friend had managed to maintain his concentration. Not only because this meant their friend was no longer in pain, but also because they wouldn't have to carry him off to the Hospital Wing and try to come up with a plausible reason for James to be partially transfigured without revealing the group's biggest secret. After a few more minutes, in the place where James had been standing was a fully grown stag. Sirius nudged Peter and said "You can look now. He's done it!" Peter lifted his head, peeking at the scene through his fingers, before gasping in surprise. He jumped up from the ground, jumping for joy as he shouted "Yes! He did it! This is actually happening!" Sirius and Remus exchanged smiles while James the stag tapped the ground with his hoof. Shifting back seemed much easier, as James was able to pull it off in a matter of minutes.

Sirius was up next, trading places with James. Like James, he started by shifting his arms and legs. Shaggy black hair grew from his skin, as his elbows also turned into knees. Next were his hands and feet, shifting into four toed padded paws of a canine. Managing to stabilise on his new legs, Sirius shifted his attention to his torso. It shifted, most notably growing hair and looking much more natural with the new appendages. Finally he reached his head. First his ears shifted, changing shape to those of a shaggy haired black canine. His nose and jaw elongated before merging together into a muzzle, large clearly dog-like teeth showing as he gritted his teeth, lips curled back in pain, as he fought to maintain concentration. Finally the rest of his skull merged and shifted until it was the proper shape of a dog's skull, covered in black fur. When the trio looked over in his direction after the sounds of transformation had stopped, they found a shaggy black dog sitting there. The dog, clearly pleased, sat wagging his tail with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. The other three gave a cheer as the dog shifted back into the form of Sirius Black. As with James, shifting into the animagus form took a lot longer and a lot more effort than switching back to human form. Peter nervously took Sirius' place, knowing he could no longer avoid attempting the transformation. He focused on his limbs first, and they shifted and shrank! He was starteled, freezing after noticing how his arms and legs had shrunk down to the size of a small rodent. Sirius and James shouted encouragement while Remus gave him a gentle pat on the back and an encouraging smile. After taking some time to calm down, Peter returned to his attempt. As with his limbs, his torso shrank and shifted its form into that of a dark brown coated rat. His giant, human sized head, looked odd attached to such a small body, but he managed to shrink it fairly quickly. But that was the easy part of the skull transformation. After quite a bit of work, and encouragement from his friends, he managed to fully take on the form of a rat. His tail twitched nervously as he looked up at the trio. Sirius cheered at their success.

When Peter managed to shift back, Sirius spoke up. "We have a name for our group now, but shouldn't we have cool nicknames too? I mean, now that we have our animagus forms we should come up with nicknames that suit them right?" The others nodded in agreement before silently thinking. James spoke up first, saying "How about Moony for Remus? Sure he's not an animagus, but he shifts because of the moon." Sirius nodded and said "Moony! That's perfect! And for you James, how about Prongs? You get those massive antlers when you transform after all!" Remus spoke up next. "Alright, Moony… I like the sound of that! And Prongs definitely suits James! For Sirius, how about Padfoot? Since a dog's foot is padded?" James and Peter eagerly nodded while Sirius said "Hmmm Padfoot… Padfoot…. I like it! Brilliant idea Moony!" Remus grinned at the use of his new nickname while they contemplated what to call Peter. Finally James spoke up. "Well he's a rat, so how about Wormtail? The tail of a rat looks an awful lot like a worm." Sirius and Remus nodded in agreement before turning to Peter to see his reaction. Peter thought a moment before saying "Wormtail… It's a bit odd, but it does sound nice!" The names agreed upon, the newly nicknamed Marauders returned to their dorm to get some sleep for the night. It had been one long night full of transformations, but Sirius felt like this was merely the beginning of something amazing! The quartet stumbled up the stairs, narrowly avoiding getting caught as the staircase decided to move. They had several close calls with the stairs on the way toward Gryffindor tower, but with some brilliant teamwork they managed to avoid getting carried off. The four were utterly exhausted when they finally made it to the portrait. Remus muttered the password, receiving an irritated reply from the Fat Lady as she swung forward to allow them to enter. Stumbling up the stairs to the boy's dorm, the collapsed on their beds and slept for what little time remained until breakfast.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

Each night the Marauders would sneak off to their hidden practice room and practice transforming into their animagus forms. Each time they tried the transformation became a bit easier. Even Peter, who had been petrified of accidentally messing up, became more confident with transforming into a rat. He could actually transform with relative ease, no longer shaking or nervously attempting to remain focused. As the days passed, the boys realized they were ready to assist their friend. And just in time too! The full moon was only a few nights away! Finishing their most recent bout of animagus training, Sirius turned to Remus and said "Hey, Moony, Don't you think it's about time you show us your secret hide away?" Remus looked rather nervous. Honestly he had forgotten this time would come. He knew his friends wouldn't back down, especially after making it this far, but he wanted to be absolutely sure he wouldn't hurt them! James spoke up, noticing Remus' hesitation, and said "Yeah Moony! Time to show us your secret lair! Where the were goes to were!" He laughed at his own pun, while the others just smiled and shook their heads. Peter gave an encouraging smile, while Sirius put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing his shoulder gently with a comforting smile of his own. With a sigh, Remus said "Alright, I'll show you. But remember, you have to be very careful! It's well hidden, and abandoned, so it's not the most stable of places… not to mention the guard tree…" Sirius, James, and Peter exchanged confused glances and said in unison "Guard Tree?" The confused trio followed Remus as he carefully navigated through the various hidden corridors. James muttered something about needing a magical map to keep track of their route and avoid any Prefects or anyone else patrolling the halls. Sirius thought it would be a great idea, but he remained quiet, focused on Remus to make sure he was really okay with all of this. The three had been rather pushy about this, not willing to back down and let their friend act on his own anymore, but Remus' feelings on the matter were just as important as theirs. He had seemed alright with it, yet as this moment drew closer he seemed to recede into himself even more. It was like he was beginning to regret agreeing to let them help. Remus paused to keep a look out, they were nearing the larger corridors after all, when he met Sirius' gaze. He smiled reassuringly, his eyes saying that he was perfectly happy with this decision, despite his initial hesitation. Confirming the coast was clear, he led the group to the large doors leading outside of the castle. With a careful tug, they managed to open the doors and seal them quickly behind, to avoid leaving a trace that anything had been disturbed.

Finally the four made it to the grounds. They looked around curiously, setting their sights of the Forbidden Forest, as that seemed the best place for an animalistic creature to hide. But to their surprise Remus turned in the opposite direction, towards the Whomping Willow. Feeling protective, Sirius began walking alongside Remus, eyes searching for even the faintest hint of danger. The tree lurched to life as the quartet drew nearer. Its branches twitched, moving as if searching for the perfect place to strike the intruders. Remus moved slowly, but deliberately, making himself smaller and less threatening. The tree seemed confused, moving slowly as if testing this outsider. As it approached him, Remus elegantly dodged. He sidestepped one branch, jumped over the next, and ducked under the last. With that he had made it to the trunk. Sirius, James, and Peter watched with bated breath as Remus reached the tree trunk and pushed on a knot that had gone unnoticed until Remus touched it. The second he pushed it, the Whomping Willow froze. Its branches returned to their original positions, showing no signs of moving anytime soon. Remus called out to his friends. "It's alright. I've soothed the tree for the moment, but you should hurry! It'll start moving again soon enough!" At his words the trio shook themselves from their shared stupor and ran for the tree. When they reached their friend, he showed them the trap door. The trio were amazed! How many secret passages did Hogwarts have?! If they did get around to making a map, they would have to make note of all the secret passages they could possibly find. Sirius made a mental note of which knot Remus had pressed before following him down the trap door. Remus led them along the path, through the darkness, until they reached a low lit room. Entering they saw very little. It was clearly abandoned, covered in dust and cobwebs, with a lone chair standing near the staircase. "What is this place?" Peter muttered, looking around warily. Remus gave a small smile and said "People call it the Shrieking Shack. They think it's haunted, due to all the cries of pain…" He trailed off as he led them up the stairs. Stopping in what had once been a bedroom, he turned to face his friends and said "This is my home away from Hogwarts… The one place I can transform without fear of attacking and infecting someone else…"

Sirius frowned at the tone Remus used. He didn't think Remus should be so hard on himself for being a werewolf. He didn't ask for this path, and he had been doing all he could to avoid harming anyone by accident. Yet whenever Remus spoke about himself, it seemed as if he was blaming himself for being turned, or for having to disappear once a month to avoid harming people. Sirius didn't understand why he started thinking like those fools who saw werewolves as simply beasts. Sure, people were cruel, but Remus had nothing to be ashamed of! Stepping up, Sirius said "Well, isn't this cosy! Just the right amount of space for one werewolf, one stag, one rat, and one dog. Welcome to the hideaway gents, we'll be holding meetings here monthly so try not to be late!" He followed this up with a wink, leading his friends to laugh. He smiled as the tension began to drain away. Remus looked a lot lighter, his eyes sharing the laughter he couldn't hold back. Sirius smiled at this sight. This was how Remus should always be. This happy, obviously well loved, young wizard. Not the tormented soul he seemed to be far too often. With everyone in a lighter mood, they began to plan for the upcoming full moon. The set up the room, pushing rubble out of the way, making sure to leave some space for an escape route, just in case. Remus insisted on this and, understanding that he would hate himself further if he actually caused them any pain, the trio agreed. They set up bedding along the floor, in each of the four corners. There was a small nest for Peter near the door, a larger rounded bed for Sirius in the corner near the window, an equally sized bed in the corner opposite of Sirius for Remus, and one square shaped bed for James in the corner opposite of Peter. Their beds were made up of old fabric and pieces of torn mattresses taken from the room around them. Remus seemed embarrassed by the destruction they had found, but the friends just laughed it off and finished their preparations. After double checking that everything was in place, and the plan was thoroughly memorised, the Marauders began the trek back to Gryffindor Tower. Sirius noticed Remus become solemn as they walked, and slowed down to match his stride. Wrapping his arm around Remus' shoulder he said "Hey, don't worry so much Moony! We have a plan, and a backup plan. Everything will be fine!" Remus gave a small smile, then spoke quietly. "I just don't want to hurt anyone…. There's a reason I've hidden myself away, alone, each full moon since our first year." Sirius affectionately butted Remus' head with his own and said "We know the dangers, but nothing is going to stop us from helping you through those nights. You shouldn't have to suffer through this alone, and no matter what you say we are not going to let you continue to suffer!" The pair shared smiles as they followed behind James and Peter, finally making their way home for the evening.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

The day had finally come. The first full moon the Marauders would spend together. Remus warned Sirius that the full moon would be tonight, so he and James worked out a plan to sneak him out of the castle. Sirius would help Remus get to the Shrieking Shack before breakfast, James would make up excuses for his absence, and Peter would sneak food out of the Great Hall for each meal and deliver it to Remus while the James and Sirius would keep any on lookers distracted. First thing that morning, Sirius helped Remus out of bed, and helped his friend get ready for the long day and night ahead. Sirius was pained, seeing his friend so sickly looking, clearly in pain as the dreaded full moon drew nearer to rising. Hooking Remus' right arm over his shoulder, and wrapping his left arm around Remus' waist for support, Sirius slipped the invisibility cloak over them and began to carefully leave the dorms. The stairs were tricky to navigate, as a narrow winding staircase tends to be, leaving Sirius mentally wishing they had been sorted into a house nearer to the ground. Remus was clearly in pain, as he tried desperately not to cry out with each movement. Sirius hated seeing his friend like this. As they walked, he kept offing small comforting sounds, hoping they would make it through the storm of Remus' mind and offer him some relief in this time of torment. It took them far longer than usual to reach the ground floor, making Sirius grateful that he had managed to wake up on time for once. Leaving this early was the only way the two could possibly make it to the Shrieking Shack before anyone could notice their absence. When he neared the Whomping Willow, he carefully sat Remus down and approached the guardian tree on his own. He mimicked Remus' movements, carefully dodging each branch that tried to strike him, and pushed on the knot at the base of the trunk. He was thankful that Remus had forced them all to memorize which knot was the correct knot. One of the branches had been dangerously close to hitting him when he deactivated the tree's defences! Helping Remus stand again, the pair made their way down the trap door, along the secret passage, and into the Shrieking Shack. Sirius cursed the necessity of stairs as he kept a watchful eye over Remus, before finally making it to the bedroom headquarters they had set up. Ever so gently, he helped Remus lay down on the designated werewolf bed and covered him with a blanket they had stashed. "Just hang on a little while longer, Moony! Peter will be here with breakfast soon! And before you know it the full moon will be over!" He said, gently stroking Remus' hair in an effort to comfort him. When Peter arrived with the food, Sirius hesitatingly left the Shack to begin running interference. One thing was certain; this was going to be a really long day.

Meeting up with James in the Great Hall, the two began planning out what excuses to use. "We could just say he's sick… Say he decided to stay up in our dorm and try to sleep it off?" James suggested, trying to avoid any really ridiculous excuses. Sirius thought for a moment then said "That could work, but what if someone wants to go up and check on him?" James had to think about that for a while. Absentmindedly eating his breakfast, he tried to find a simple solution. James was known for convoluted plans, convoluted stories, and very convoluted lies. But even he understood that sometimes the simplest plan was the best option. Finally he came up with an idea. "Alright, what if we say he's sensitive to light and sound right now? Get everyone to be quiet and tell them it's best to just leave him alone to rest!" He said, excited at having a chance to see a simple plan actually work out. Sirius thought on this. It could work; it might be just believable enough that people would leave their dorm alone. With a smile he said "That just might work! Way to go Prongs! You start explaining to people why Moony isn't here; I have to go grab my bag from the dorm!" James gave him a mock salute and returned to eating while Sirius rushed out of the Great Hall and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower. After dodging several rushing students on their way towards breakfast, he managed to find the Portrait of the Fat Lady. He hurriedly gave her the password, tapping his foot anxiously as she laughed at her own joke, and practically leaping through the hole as soon as she moved aside. He just about flew up the stairs, grabbed his bag, and locked the door behind him. As he raced down the stairs, he nearly crashed into Lily. Luckily the Common Room was entirely empty aside from the two of them. With a grin he said "Ah! Lily! Just the person I was looking for!" Lily looked back at him, utterly confused. "Me? Why would you be looking for me?" She said, tilting her head at his odd behaviour. Sirius did a quick double take of the room, making sure no one had slipped into the Common Room while he was greeting Lily, before saying "I need your help. Moony-er Remus is feeling really ill today, but we didn't want to drag him off to the Hospital Wing. He's sleeping up in our dorm, but we need to make sure no one disturbs him. Can you help us keep people away from him for the night?" His eyes pleaded with her, clearly begging that she not question his request. Shocked she said "He's ill? I hope it's nothing serious!" Sirius shook his head, mentally retorting 'No, I'm Sirius!' before responding with "Not at all! He just needs to sleep it off and relax for the day. Lily thought there was more to this situation than Sirius was admitting, but if it involved Remus then Lily wouldn't pry. With a determined nod she said "Alright, just leave it to me!" Sirius thanked her before rushing out of the Common Room and heading off to his first class of the day.

That evening, James, Sirius, and Peter snuck out of their dorm and began to make their way down stairs. They hid under the invisibility cloak, moving as quickly as they dared while trying to dodge the nightly patrols. After what felt like an eternity of walking, they finally made their way towards the Whomping Willow. Once there, they swiftly transformed into their animagus forms. Peter, as the agile and swift rat, raced to the knot before the Whomping Willow could unleash the force of its branches. Giving a squeak of assurance he darted down the trap door, followed by a shaggy black dog, and a lithe stag. The trio of creatures swiftly navigated the secret passage and darted up the stairs of the Shrieking Shack. The rat jumped onto the stag's horns, gripping the bone appendages for balance. Making their way into the room, they noticed their friend, lying on his designated bed, breathing heavily and clearly still in pain. The shaggy dog gave a sympathetic whimper, moving closer to Remus and nuzzling his neck. The rat watched the moon rise through the boarded up window, giving a squeak of warning when it neared its zenith. The stag tapped the ground twice with his front left hoof, alerting the dog to back away. The time of transformation nearing, the three took their posts in the corners of the room and watched. All at once, everything changed. Remus grew deathly still for a moment, barely even breathing. Then, just as suddenly, he began to writhe in pain. His bones shifted, changing shape from humanoid to werewolf shape, as he howled with pain. Each of the three other creatures in the room had to restrain themselves from rushing to him. He had been certain to warn them all that approaching him as he transformed could get them killed very quickly. It hurt them all to watch this, but they knew it would only hurt Remus more if they tried to take action. After what seemed like an eternity, the transformation was complete. The lanky werewolf sat on his bedding, breathing heavily after the painful transition. Noticing he was not alone, the instincts took over, causing him to lunge for the shaggy dog across from him. Noticing his movement, the dog leapt forward and head butted the werewolf. The rat scampered towards the door, ready to lead the others in the escape if necessary, while the Stag took a protective stance in front of the rat, eyes watching the werewolf. The werewolf sat up, shaking his head, then eyed the dog. At first he seemed confused, as the dog showed no signs of attacking or fleeing, then he seemed to understand. He shook his head, trying to gain control once more. The dog signalled the Stag and Rat to remain in their positions. The werewolf shook, swinging his great canine-like head to and fro, nearly smacking into the wall. The dog leaned forward, front left paw raised as if to reach out and console the werewolf. But the dog made no further movement. He was trying to avoid triggering the werewolf's instincts. After quite a while of struggle, the werewolf seemed to find his control. Through his eyes it was clear to see Remus was in control. The dog gave a lopsided grin and loped forward to nuzzle the werewolf. The stag followed behind, giving him a gentle head but, while the rat leapt onto his shoulder and gave gentle pats with his small hand-like paws. The four ended up curling up on the werewolf's bed, sleeping until the dawn. In the morning, the four returned to their dorm, human once more, and feeling a lot more confident in their own abilities.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

The morning after the full moon, Remus found himself disoriented in the early morning light. The events of the full moon always left him feeling confused. As the werewolf part of him took over, the human part of him could only watch the events unfold as if in a dense fog. He tried to remember what all had happened that day. The full moon always left him feeling particularly ill, so his memory was a bit hazy. He remembered Sirius waking him up early that morning, and their trek to the Shrieking Shack. He remembered Peter showing up a few times, each time bringing different foods and more water. He remembered feeling restless and the mind numbing pain. He remembered seeing three creatures with him in the darkness. There was a shaggy black dog, a brownish rat, and a rather majestic looking stag. He remembered the fear as his werewolf instincts took over. He remembered a sudden shock. The last thing he remembered was falling into a surprisingly peaceful sleep at the end of it all. Yet now here he was, back in his bed in Gryffindor Tower. Looking over at his sleeping friends he realized they must have helped him get back into the tower after the moon finally set below the horizon. He smiled; still worried that something would go wrong, but eternally grateful for such amazing friends. After this first success he had hope that they would be able to spend the full moons together with no problem, but he was still wary. His werewolf side often took over entirely during that time, leaving him trapped in his own mind as either a silent observer or asleep. If his friends were to make even the slightest mistake while with him those nights… He shuddered at the thought. But he couldn't think about that right now. He still felt off, but the worst of it was over thankfully. He walked over to the neighbouring bed, Sirius' bed, and nudged his friend awake. "Padfoot…. Padfoot! We're gonna be late for breakfast if you don't wake up!" He said, nudging Sirius until he saw movement and heard a grumbled complaint. Sirius turned over, glaring slightly at Remus, and said "Moony, It is too early in the morning for this…. Wait, what are you even doing up Moony? Shouldn't you be resting after yesterday?" His glare quickly turned into a look of concern, glancing over the still sickly looking Remus. Remus shook his head and said "I don't want to miss anymore class than absolutely necessary. Don't worry, if I feel worse I'll leave and rest. I promise." After making sure he was satisfied with Remus' answer, Sirius got out of bed and woke James and Peter. After the quartet had finished getting ready, they finally made their way to the Great Hall.

The four managed to grab a bit of breakfast before they had to head off towards their first class of the day. Sirius, James, and Peter kept a watchful eye on Remus. They were still uncertain that he was doing as well as he claimed, but they were not going to try to stop him from attending classes. Remus was still rather pale, but he seemed to be handling himself alright. He would smile and politely respond to everyone who questioned him. The students noticed his monthly absences, but no one had thought to connect the disappearances with the occurrence of the full moon. Luckily everyone seemed satisfied with the various excuses he would give. Most of the time he'd claim it was a simple case of fatigue. He'd say that he had been so focused on the course work, practicing everything that was taught in each class in addition to the actual assignments. Everyone believed this because Remus was such a diligent student. Classes went by rather uneventfully, though they seemed to last an eternity. At least, that was how it seemed to Sirius, who spent each class continuously glancing over a Remus to make sure he was alright. Now that he knew the truth, it was a lot easier to recognise the patterns of the symptoms. The day before the full moon, Remus would begin to pale, get winded very easily, and would eat less than usual. The day of the full moon he would suffer through pain while showing what appeared to be severe flu-like symptoms, complete with hallucinations and the general behaviour of the mind not entirely connecting to its surroundings. The day after the full moon, he would be considerably pale, weaker than the day before the full moon, and he would move quite a bit slower than usual. But at least his appetite would return, allowing him to recover at least some of his strength. The Marauders spent every spare second together, as Sirius, James, and Peter played mother hen to Remus. Remus laughed it off, as he knew what their intentions were. And honestly, he didn't mind the attention that much. He preferred not to worry anyone, but it made his friends happy to help him through all this so he figured he could indulge them at this time. That night, the four actually remained in their dorm. They stayed up rather late into the evening chatting about what had happened the night before, and assuring Remus that no damage had been done. Then they started to plan their next big idea. James brought up his idea for a magical map that could tell them where everyone was at any given moment in Hogwarts. Sirius spoke up about his idea to include all the secret passageways they could find and how to enter them. "Like the One-eyed Witch Statue! No one would be able to figure out how to get past her without a lot of time and effort, so a map that can explain how would be brilliant!" He said as his friends nodded along. Their idea decided upon, they settled down to sleep. They all knew they were likely to get very little sleep once they actually began work on this project.

Lily watched on as James, Sirius, and Peter fussed over Remus all day. It was rather cute how they would jump in the second he needed anything. The worry was clear in their eyes every time they looked at him. Lily hoped she would find out why. She had promised Sirius she wouldn't ask, and she was going to keep that promise, but she hoped that one day they would willingly tell her what was going on. She thought about what had happened the day before. First, Sirius was late to class. That in and of itself was not an odd occurrence, as he and James were nearly constantly late for at least one class a day. But he wasn't acting like himself. He sat in his desk, fidgeting and constantly looking towards the door or out the window. He had been an utter wreck! It worried Lily, but she figured it had something to do with the secret he was keeping so she didn't ask him. Instead, she did everything she could to keep everyone distracted from how odd his behaviour was, as well as keep them from trying to see Remus. She started impromptu practice sessions, challenging other students to practice the spells they had just learned and see who had mastered the spells most after just one class session. This became very popular, as just about everyone was determined to show off and prove they were the best of their year. Sirius had given her a small smile when he noticed her efforts, but he was quick to vanish. Then, during their meals, Peter would vanish. He seemed to have eaten less than usual, cramming some snacks into his pockets, but neither James nor Sirius seemed worried about his behaviour. This only left Lily concerned. Then, after dinner, the three of them went straight up to their dorm room and never came back down. Usually in the evenings they could be found in the Common Room making a ruckus with their laughter, James' stories, and various little pranks they would all pull together. But that night, it was oddly quiet. Lily waited in the Common Room, hoping they would return with Remus at least to say hello when the majority of people were gone. But instead she was left alone until rather late in the evening. The moon was rising higher, so she had decided to go to bed and hoped to meet up with the boys in the morning. In the morning, when the boys had made their way to breakfast, Lily finally got to see just how pale Remus was. The other three hovered around him like mother hens, which was both amusing and concerning. Remus seemed in high spirits, so Lily felt some sense of relief. If he was able to smile genuinely, despite looking ill, then it was likely he was alright and just in need of some additional rest. She kept watch over the group the rest of the day, watching as they interacted. She had hoped to talk to Sirius that evening, but he, James, Remus, and Peter actually went to bed at a reasonable time. Giving up on the matter, Lily went to bed and hoped that she would get the chance to properly speak to her friend again.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

Sirius was glad to see Remus looking much healthier the following day. The Marauders spent their day, as usual, primarily goofing off in class while Remus took notes for all of them. Peter egged on James and Sirius every time they began to joke. That's not to say the Sirius and James never took their studies seriously. On the contrary, they often excelled in all their classes. They learned new material very quickly, so even if they appeared to be ignoring everything that was taught they were really just storing away the knowledge for later. They saw class as an opportunity to have some fun, rather than sit back and listen to a professor drone on and on about theory or history. This tended to land them in detention more often than not, but they didn't mind. They used their detention time to plan out their next adventure or the next great prank. Today, despite the return of their trouble making antics, they managed to avoid getting a detention. This was incredibly fortunate, as they had planned to start work on their amazing map tonight. Peter had gathered extra stationary supplies, taking countless rolls of parchment and a plethora of ink bottles from class storage rooms, and had stashed them away in the Marauders' dorm room. This would take careful planning, and likely repeated attempts, but they were determined to create this magical map. To avoid suspicion, they played up their usual antics in the Common Room. They joked and pranked some of their housemates. They kept the Common Room properly lively, which kept everyone from asking what had happened to them the past few days. In fact, they seemed to have pulled off their act so well that everyone seemed to have forgotten the oddity of their behaviour. That is except for Lily. Sirius spoke with her briefly, promising to explain everything one day, but he once again asked her to promise to keep quiet and help them out in the future. Luckily she agreed. As soon as the Common Room was nearly cleared out, the quartet made their way up to their dorm to prepare. As they left, Sirius met Lily's gaze. She seemed concerned still, despite their earlier conversation. Sirius gave her a reassuring smile, his eyes seeming to say that all was well. Unable to stop herself, Lily grabbed his arm. Turning back to look at her, Sirius checked to make sure no one else was left in the Common Room before saying "Lily? What's wrong?" Lily took a deep breath and said "This, whatever it is you are doing, it's not too dangerous right?" Her eyes pleaded with him to tell the truth. Sirius gave her a gentle smile and said "I can't give you any details, but I promise it'll be alright. I'm sorry, I keep leaving you in the dark, but please just trust me." Lily looked at the sincerity in his eyes, then nodded and said "Alright, I trust you. But if anything goes wrong you'll have to answer to me!" She gave him a stern gaze, clearly telling him that she wouldn't allow him to come to any harm, even if he was the cause. Sirius knew she was serious, and was glad there was someone else who cared about his well being. He laughed and said "Thanks, Lil. See ya later!"

Once sealed safely in their dorm room, the quartet began their work for the evening. The boys quickly pulled their end tables and trunks into the centre of the room, forming a makeshift table and chairs. Peter brought out some of the parchment and ink, unrolling the parchment over their makeshift table. Remus lit a few candles, enchanting them to hover and manuvering them around the room to get the best lighting for their project. Once everything was set up, Peter was the first to speak. "So…. How are we supposed to make this map?" He asked, looking around at James, Sirius, and Remus. Sirius spoke up, saying "Well we'll need to enchant it. It'll need to be able to show all of Hogwarts and the grounds, but still be small enough to fit into our pockets. And it'll need some sort of safe guard…" James jumped in, saying "Yeah! Like a code word, or phrase, something that people wouldn't think of! Something that only the four of us would remember!" Remus spoke up next. "It'd need to be able to keep track of everyone at Hogwarts… It'd have to be able to know the names of everyone…. It'd need to be able to not only know all the names of those currently here, but be able to work out the names of anyone who steps foot on the grounds…. That will take some serious magic…" He trailed off as he tried to figure out how to make that possible. Peter spoke up again. "It'll need to know where the secret passages begin, and where they lead to." James, Sirius, and Remus nodded. That was one of the main reasons they were making this map. That and for the ability to keep track of everyone to avoid getting in trouble when sneaking off. Remus made notes of what exactly the map would need; making special notations of books that could prove helpful in performing such difficult magic. He smiled and said "Well for starters, we can enchant the parchment to hold a much larger map." He pulled out an ancient looking book of spells, quickly read over the charm he was looking for, focused his energy, and tapped the parchment. The parchment briefly glowed for a moment, a strange bluish white light, then appeared to double in size. He tapped it once more, and it shrank, folding back to its original size. The trio stared at him in shock. With an embarrassed smile he said "Variation of the extension charm, undetectable and very useful. I think I've cast it properly, but we won't know for sure until we actually start working on this map." Trading grins, the three said in unison "Brilliant Moony!" After a brief silence, Sirius spoke up once again, saying "We'll need to get the rest of the charms cast on this map soon enough if we want to be able to test it out, but that'll take some time. For now we should focus on mapping out the grounds and the castle itself."

With their plan decided, the quartet went to sleep for the evening. They had decided it would be best to work more the next day, considering how much work mapping out the entirety of the castle and the grounds would be. The next morning, after a groggy start, they began to work out a more solid plan. "We'll need to work out how to map this entire place. James, you and Remus take the castle for now. Take the invisibility cloak and map out however much you can. Peter, you and I are going to map out the grounds. We'll sneak off in our animagus forms and start mapping out what we can. We need exact measurements, so make sure you have a way to keep track!" Sirius said as the quartet prepared for bed that evening. "We'll rest up tonight. Starting tomorrow we will need to use every spare moment we can find to make this map." James and Remus high fived, before Remus settled down to catch some semblance of sleep before sun rise. James stashed away the invisibility cloak, hiding it in his bag so he could use it whenever he needed in the foreseeable future. Peter quickly gathered a few supplies of his own, a small jar of ink and a piece of parchment that he could use to help keep track of everything while in his animagus form. He then strapped them to a small leather band, about the size of a bracelet, and stashed it away in his bag. Sirius stashed the candles, careful to make sure they were completely out first, before finally settling down to try and sleep. Around him were the sounds of his friends deep in slumber. James snored obnoxiously, sounding akin to a… what was it Remus had called it? Ah, yes, a warthog! That's what it was! James' snoring sounding like a warthog speaking! He laughed silently at this comparison. Remus, in the bed beside him, slept silently; the faint sound of breathing the only indicator that there was actually someone there. Then there was Peter, who snored like a rat, with little hints of high pitched almost squeak-like sounds escaping his lips every time he exhaled. Sirius found himself unable to fall asleep. So much had happened this year, and it was already nearly over. Just a few short months remained and then he would be trapped in that horrible house for months. He dreaded the last day of term, but if he was lucky, he could end up spending the summer with James. And at least he could keep in touch with Lily. He'd have to make sure to send her letters whenever he could. Despite the fact that they had never really spoken before this year, they had grown closer than he could have ever imagined. He knew better than most that you can make your own family through friends, and as far as he was concerned she was the sister he never had. As sleep finally shrouded his mind in a fog of peace, he smiled as he thought on his newly forged family; Remus, James, Peter, and now Lily. They were the best family he could ever hope for. Now all he needed to do was take the time to plan the escape to James' house. His last conscious thought was of the possibility of hiding in James' trunk at the end of the train ride, only to surprise James' parents when they arrived back at his house.


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Chapter Twenty One**

For months the Marauders used every free evening they had to map out all of Hogwarts. Despite their many days of work, they only managed to map out a tenth of the grounds and the ground floor of the castle. Hogwarts was incredibly large, especially when one wished to map out the entirety of both the castle and the grounds. It didn't help that James and Sirius kept getting detentions, which cut into their planning and mapping time. Then exams drew closer, and the quartet had to study, which cut even further into their time. It was clear this map would take quite a while to finish. Calling their plans to a pause, they agreed to continue on the first day of term next year. For now, they decided it would be best to focus on their studies before taking on exams in a few days. This year had flown by incredibly quickly. Sirius reflected on all that had happened as he sat, bored, in History of Magic class. The year started out like the two before, with Sirius gladly boarding the train and escaping his family. Then he and Lily ended up meeting properly, even exchanging their stories. He certainly hadn't expected her to talk to him, let alone tell him her story! And now he thought of her like a sister. Then he found out that one of his best friends was a werewolf! Looking back, he wondered how he could have possibly missed the signs. The monthly vanishing, the way he would triple check the phases of the moon while working on Astronomy homework, how skittish he was, especially when the full moon drew closer. It seems so obvious in hindsight, but even then Remus was surprisingly skilled at hiding the truth. There were really only a few hints, which seem blatantly obvious once you know the secret, but until that point they were rather undiscerning. It was difficult to imagine how Remus could've spent two years hiding such a great secret, suffering in silence, for fear of being rejected by those he cared for most. But Sirius, James, and Peter had managed to master animagus training, taking on an animagus form that proved useful when dealing with an agitated werewolf. And now they had a plan to create the greatest map ever imagined! This was going to take forever. The mapping alone was going to take at least the next year, and then they had to figure out how to enchant it for security. This year really began their pattern of delving into magic far beyond their years. Human Transfiguration was so difficult they were not supposed to even hear about it until NEWT year! And then there were the ideas they had for the map. The spell Remus cast on it was rather advanced, and a variant of advanced magic making it even more difficult, but the other spells they would need were bound to be excessively difficult! Sirius shook himself from his thoughts as the students around him began to pack up and leave the classroom. Now was the time to prepare for the year's exams, not to dwell on the events of the past.

Lily was buried in a pile of parchment and text books as she reviewed everything she had learned over the year. The end of term exams were always the worst. She always did well on them, but she hated all the prep work that had to go into them. She had to go back and review until she could cast every spell and answer every question in her sleep! Alice and Lydia were complaining as they tried to study. "There is just too much to be memorized! I feel like my brain is going to explode!" Lydia shouted, collapsing face first into her History of Magic notes. Alice laughed lightly and said "Oh Lydia, don't be so dramatic! It's not like you have to battle to earn any grade. All you have to do is memorize a few more facts than you had to for the last exams!" "If I have to memorize one more useless date I swear to Merlin I am going to go insane!" Lydia mumbled from the depths of her notes. Lily laughed at the banter between her two best friends and said "How about we make up some flash cards? We could turn this study session into a game! It'll at least make the information stick better, without making anyone insane!" She added a light teasing wink towards Lydia while Alice laughed. Pulling the pair over towards the couch in front of the fireplace, Lily pulled out some parchment, ink, and quills. Splitting the supplies into three equal piles, she said "Alright, here's what we'll do. I'll write down all the important dates and other information for History of Magic, Charms, and Potions. Lydia, you take Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy. Alice, you take Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes. Write down one fact per slip of parchment. Once we're done we can start quizzing each other. To make things interesting, winner gets treated to whatever they want from any shop in Hogsmeade during the first Hogsmeade weekend next year." Lydia and Alice's eyes sparkled at the mention of the challenge. "You're on!" They shouted in unison as the trio swiftly got to work on creating the flash cards. As they worked, Lily caught sight of Sirius out of the corner of her eye. For once he and James were actively studying with Peter and Remus. They usually left studying for the last minute, but this time they were beginning their study sessions much earlier. Sure exams were just around the corner, but usually the disruptive pair didn't start actively studying until the night before. At least, that was how it always seemed. Despite the lack of what most would consider proper studying, both Sirius and James ended the year with a mix of O's and E's. This never ceased to amaze Lily. Though, now that she had gotten to know Sirius properly, she understood there was a lot more to him than people gave him credit for. She started to think of him fondly, like one would a brother. She was still worried for him, and whatever secret he held so closely, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She had promised him she wouldn't press him for information, and she always kept her word. He seemed to be involved in something dangerous, but as long as he was willing to tell her the truth when he was ready, then she wouldn't interfere. She shared a smile with him when they caught each other's eyes, before returning to her flash card making session.

Finally, the day of exams had arrived. Students wandered the halls trying to remember everything they had been taught up until that moment. Some were muttering incantations under their breath, while others constantly reopened text books to double check their answers. A few students were attempting to create cheat sheets that would be hidden anywhere possible while taking exams. One of those students was trying, unsuccessfully, to charm his cheat sheet so that the answers were clear to him but looked like scratch paper for essay portions of any given exam. Sirius shook his head at the foolish students trying to cheat. It was better to earn the grades yourself, rather than be handed them for successfully cheating. Sure he broke rules, often, and loved a good prank, but cheating on exams was where he drew the line. Some rules were made to be broken, and bending the rules could be acceptable, but flat out cheating was completely wrong! Sirius silently lit a small firework and sent it flying towards the students making cheat sheets. The firework went unnoticed until it quickly burst into flame with a sound akin to the crash of a pair of cymbals, igniting the cheat sheets. As the ashes fell to the floor, and the cheating students began to panic, Sirius smirked and continued along the corridor towards his first exam of the day. By the end of the day, all of the students meandered through the corridors towards the Great Hall like the living dead. They shuffled along their way, exhausted, and spoke very briefly. Some students, particularly exhausted after the long day of exams, spoke exclusively in grunts. One student joked that his friend, currently speaking in a series of grunts, was actually practicing speaking Troll. This lightened the mood a bit, as students laughed lightly before turning their attention to food. The next day they would leave Hogwarts for the summer, and most were excited. Sirius returned to his plots to avoid his family this summer. About halfway through the meal, Sirius' owl, a lovely great horned owl, flew in and dropped a letter on his lap. The owl quickly flew down, landing on his shoulder, and nipped Sirius' ear affectionately before flying off to the owlry. The letter was sealed with black wax, bearing the seal of the House of Black. Noticing his irritation, Remus placed a comforting hand on Sirius' shoulder. Peter gave him a look of sympathy while James said "Well, you might as well get it over with. Who knows! It could be good news!" Sirius shook his head, laughing lightly at James' words, before breaking the seal. Unfolding the letter he read the words written in the flowing script out loud. He mocked his mother's high pitched voice as he read. "Sirius, the family is leaving this summer for a grand reunion with our illustrious cousins. It is of upmost important that we do not show any sign of weakness. As such, Regulus will be transported to our location via the floo network. You are not required to join us. Stay with a friend or return to our home alone. Either way you will not be able to embarrass us this summer. Mother." Sirius reread the message, his grin growing with every line. "This is perfect!" He said. "I'll get to stay with you all summer, Prongs!" James grinned and said "Best summer ever! I'll let my folks know!" With that he rushed out of the Great Hall to send off a letter to his parents, to let them know to expect Sirius to join them at the train station the next day. That evening, after packing up their remaining belongings, the Marauders settled down into their beds for the last time that year and slept with sweet dreams of the days to come.


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**Chapter Twenty Two**

The Marauders boarded the train, excited to head home. Finding their usual compartment empty, they quickly set their bags down and took their usual seats. Remus sat next to the window, across from Sirius who had claimed the other window, while Peter sat next to Remus and James next to Sirius. Kicking his feet up, Sirius said "So, what are your plans for the summer Moony?" Remus thought about it and said "Hopefully I'll be able to have a calm summer. But I'm visiting you and Prongs for the last two weeks, so that's rather unlikely!" He gave the pair a cheeky grin as they laughed. James spoke up "Can't wait to have you with us Moony! We'll have a proper adventure this summer!" Then he turned to Peter and said "What about you Wormtail?" Peter thought on it a moment and said "I'll likely just spend a quiet summer at home, unless I can convince my mother to let me visit you guys when Moony joins you!" He grinned at the thought. Since he was away at Hogwarts most of the year, staying to spend Christmas with his friends, his mother liked to have him stay home for most of the summer. If he behaved for most of the summer, he could convince her to let him stay with his friends for a few weeks. She usually let him stay with James for a week, two at the most, after some brief convincing. At those times they would be joined by Remus, joining them after the full moon had passed, and Sirius, who constantly snuck out of his family home to join James whenever possible. James nudged Sirius and said "Are you ready for the best summer ever, Padfoot?" Sirius smirked and said "Padfoot and Prongs together for a whole summer! Your neighbours are going to regret living next door!" He laughed. He knew the two of them wouldn't really get up to too much trouble, after all both loved James' parents. They were amazing! Sirius remembered the first time he had met them. He was eleven. It was the summer after their first year. Sirius had run away from home after yet another screaming match with his parents, who kept insisting he was nothing but a disappointment for being sorted into Gryffindor and making friends with non purebloods, and he had nowhere else to go. He wandered around until he managed to catch a ride on the Knight Bus. He was confused when a purple double-decker bus appeared out of nowhere! But he paid the toll and rode on that wild bus until he made it to James' hometown. Shakily stepping out of the bus, he wandered through the town until he stumbled across the house that James had showed him in a picture. It was just as beautiful as Sirius had thought it would be! Walking up the front steps, Sirius hesitantly knocked on the front door. It was the middle of the night, so he fully expected no one would answer. But just as he turned around to look for a place to sleep, he heard steps approaching the door. He turned just as the door opened and came face to face with a beautiful older woman.

He looked up at her in awe, as she looked down at him confused. Shaking his head he said, in a quiet voice "Ummm Sorry to bother you, but is James home?" Mrs. Potter looked confused, before giving him a sympathetic smile, saying "Come on in dear, James is in his room right now." After ushering the small boy inside, she called up the stairs. "James! You have a visitor!" An older man peaked his head out of another room, what appeared to be the kitchen, with a cup of delicious smelling tea in hand. He gave a kindly smile and said "Oh? Who might you be, young man?" Sirius struck out his hand lazily, barely following the manners that were so forcibly drilled into his mind, and said "I'm Sirius Black. Nice to meet you sir." The man laughed, shook his hand and said "Ah, so you are the infamous Sirius Black! James has been talking about you since you two became friends! Welcome to our home!" Still smiling kindly, he returned to the kitchen, bringing out a second cup of tea and some biscuits. Sirius sat down on the couch, directed to by James' parents, and slowly drank the tea. It was a black tea, and perfect for the calm summer evening. When he reached for a second biscuit, he heard rushed steps down the stairs. Turning, he came face to face with a clearly tired and very surprised James. He was in pyjamas with golden snitches darting about, his hair even messier than usual. "Sirius?!" He shouted, before rushing over to hug his friend. Sirius happily hugged his friend back, glad to have found a warm welcome from not only his friend but his friend's parents. Curious, James asked "What are you doing here? It's really late!" Sirius looked down and said "You remember how you said I could come here anytime it got too difficult at home? … Well, here I am!" He laughed embarrassedly, rubbed the back of his head nervously and said "I can stay here, right?" James' mother spoke up first. "Of course you can stay here, darling! Stay however long you like!" She turned her attention to James and said "James, dear, go grab a spare set of pyjamas for Sirius." James grinned and ran up the stairs. His father said "You just finish up your tea lad, and then it's off to bed with both you and James! Wouldn't want you two to sleep through the whole summer!" He laughed, ruffled Sirius' hair, and returned to the Kitchen to clean up. James' mother sat with Sirius as he relaxed with his tea, and told him where everything important in the house was. Once he was finished, she led him up to James' room, which was on the second floor, at the far corner of the house. Stepping inside the room, he found James excitedly moving about, a pair of pyjamas with black dogs on them in his arms. After changing, Sirius joined James in the large bed and the two shared a grin. James' mother spoke up from the door. "Good Night boys. See you in the morning!" The two chorused "Good Night!" and fell asleep fairly quickly.

From that point on, whenever Sirius couldn't stand being at home any longer, all he had to do was show up on the Potter's front step and he would be welcomed in. They had even gotten him his own bed and set it up in James' room. Growing so close to the older couple, Sirius had begun calling them Mum and Dad. The two had been surprised at first, but they were more than happy to have Sirius as their unofficial second son. Every holiday and birthday they would send him gifts, and they always invited him to spend time with them over the Christmas break, if he, James, Peter, and Remus decided to leave the castle. Sirius smiled at the memories and said "Moony, Wormtail, You two definitely have to join us! Mum and Dad are gonna have an end of summer party before we go shopping for next year's supplies!" Remus and Peter shared a grin before saying "Sounds great!" For the remainder of the train ride, the four made plans for their two weeks together at the end of summer. The made a list of all that they would do in Diagon Alley while getting supplies, and what they would do around James' hometown. They marked down the best places to hide out and continue their attempts to charm the map. They knew it would take months or even years for them to finish the map entirely, but they were not about to let the summer call a complete halt to their work if they could help it! They made a list of places and people to prank, including those that could be pranked in animagus form. They spoke about the dreams they had had, including Remus' particularly odd dream. In the dream, the four had become famous aurors, travelling the world in their little pack of four, hunting down dark wizards and witches with ease and efficiency. The four lived together, sharing a grand old house off in the country. During the full moon, though he still resented having to change form, he took it in stride because his best friends were right there with him. They'd run the country side in their animagus and werewolf forms, hunting in the pale moonlight. And when they had down time, they'd play Quidditch together in their magnificent back yard. The quartet smiled at the thought of such a time. All of them, all grown up, with their whole future ahead of them! Sirius sighed and said "That's our future! It's not gonna be just some dream, we're gonna make it a reality!" James nodded and said "Definitely! There's no way we can let that stay a dream!" Peter cheered along with them and Remus just smiled fondly at his friends. Their future decided, the Marauders stepped off the train and onto the platform at Kings Cross. Peter waved goodbye and ran off to meet his mother. Remus hugged Sirius and James, then walked off to meet up with his father. James and Sirius stepped over towards James' father and smiled. Having heard the good news via the letter, he took the boys' hands with a smile and swiftly apparated away. The trio landed on the front step of the house. After wiping their shoes off on the mat, the boys stepped inside and found themselves greeted by tea and James' mother. With a smile she said "Welcome Home!"


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Chapter Twenty Three**

All throughout the summer, Sirius kept in touch with Lily. The pair would send letters to each other daily, just chatting about their day. Sirius started the chain, with a letter talking about how he was lucky enough to get to stay with James and his parents for the summer. His first letter read

"Dear Lily,

I have the best news! My supposed parents are off for some ridiculous family reunion of sorts, and, not wanting to be around the family embarrassment, they left me behind! This means I can spend my entire summer with James, Mum, and Dad! This is going to be the best summer ever! Remus is joining us for the last few weeks, and Peter might be able to join soon! All in all, for once things are looking perfect! How're things going with you?

~Sirius"

Sirius had to remember not to use the Marauders' nicknames for each other. While they used the nicknames openly, Lily didn't know who was who yet. Perhaps in his next letter he would explain. After all, it had become second nature to refer to James as Prongs, Peter as Wormtail, and Remus and Moony while answering to the name of Padfoot. Her response was swift, flying in with Sirius' owl. Her letter read:

"Dear Sirius,

That is amazing news! I'm so happy for you! Though, I suppose you would have ended up with James even if your parents had made you remain at home with them this summer. You do have the habit of doing whatever you please after all! You have to tell me all about your adventures, alright? Things are going, well they're going… It's just a typical summer. Tunie is ignoring my very existence still, but at least I have Severus to pass the time with! We started up a new game with a series of stones. Trying to get them to balance without having to use our magic! It's surprisingly interesting, especially when odd shaped stones end up in the mix!

~Lily"

Sirius couldn't help but laugh at her response. She knew him incredibly well, considering they had only begun to speak to each other this past year. And even then they didn't get to speak all that often. Classes kept them busy, and Sirius spent as much time as possible with James, Remus, and Peter while Lily spent a good chunk of her time with Alice and Lydia, or even Severus Snape. But somehow the two had become like family to each other. With a smile, Sirius wrote his reply.

"Dear Lily,

Your summer sounds dreadfully dull! But if you are able to have fun with it, that's really all that matters. Prongs, that is James, and I have been running amok around town. We managed to pull a few pretty epic pranks! I can't really explain what we did, I don't want to get caught after our amazing get away, but it was hilarious! The town is usually dull and quiet, so of course James and I couldn't resist shaking things up a bit! Can you believe we are going to be fourth years soon? Time really flies! Well, except in Professor Binns' class! There it just crawls along and tries not to die of boredom!

~Sirius"

Lily always responded very quickly, helping Sirius have the best summer ever. After sending his letters he would meet up with James and his parents for tea, then they would be off to play some form of game or pull a prank. Some days they played a mock Quidditch game in the back yard, with their parents cheering them on. It was tough, considering James was a Seeker, but they managed to create their own version of the game. Mr. Potter handled the practice bludgers, sending them flying simultaneously at the boys while shielding them as well. The bludgers just gave the game a more authentic feel. Mrs. Potter played chaser against Sirius, egging him on to fly faster and try to catch the quaffle. By the evening, after supper had been finished, a letter would return with Sirius' owl, ready for the reading.

"Dear Sirius,

Do I even want to know what you two did? Sounds like some serious trouble! You two should be more careful! Bending rules is alright, but be careful how many you break! You wouldn't want to end up in proper trouble would you? Detention is one thing, but if you two aren't careful you could end up facing much worse consequences! Please be careful! Promise me Sirius! And what are those nicknames you, James, Remus, and Peter keep using? Are you ever going to explain to me what they mean?

~Lily"

Sirius smiled and shook his head fondly at her reply. Lily was a lot like Remus. The two worried far more than they should. Though Sirius did feel glad he had some great friends worrying about him. He looked over her question once more. He couldn't really explain it, not now, but maybe after they had left Hogwarts he could tell her. He'd have to swear her to secrecy, of course, but at least he wouldn't have to keep hiding this incredible secret. He'd make sure to ask Moony about it first, but knowing him, it would be alright. They'd just need to get to know each other properly first!

"Dear Lily,

Don't worry, Prongs and I know where to draw the line. But if it'll make you feel better, fine. I promise I won't do anything stupid. On my honour as a Gryffindor and a friend, I will stay out of serious trouble. As for the nicknames, I'm sorry but I can't tell you that. They are a part of a great secret. I can't explain anything now, but maybe one day, sometime in the future I'll tell you everything. But for now, please, don't ask again. It's not dangerous, I promise. We've got it all under control and the nicknames are just a part of that, something special to link us together. It's complicated, especially when I am trying not to give it all away, but just trust me. Okay?

~Sirius"

Lily sighed when she read his response. She hadn't really expected him to give her the answer, but she had hoped he would at least give her some sort answer that would make sense. Instead, he'd just been incredibly vague. She had a feeling this had to do with what he had been troubled by that night in the Common Room. He promised it wasn't dangerous, and that they had it all under control, but she couldn't help but worry that he was lying to keep her from worrying about him. After all, he was incredibly kind at heart. She just hoped that he would keep his word and stay out of trouble. And, someday soon, he would explain to her what all had been going on.

"Dear Sirius,

Alright, I trust you. But if anything seriously dangerous happens, you have to let me know! Okay? I don't want to see you get hurt! Especially if I could have been there to prevent it! Just… Just stay safe, and happy, okay? You're like a brother to me, and I really don't want to lose you! Keep me in the loop, as much as you can, okay? I know you can't tell me everything, but I don't want to hear back at Hogwarts that you got yourself into something dangerous, or stupid, or both!

~Lily"

Sirius smiled at her response. She saw him as a brother? That was wonderful! He had always wanted a sister! He and Regulus had imagined having a younger sister to watch over and grow up with, back when they were close. He frowned as he thought of Reg again, imagining the person his parents were turning his beloved brother into. He had changed, though Sirius could swear Reg was trying to show him kindness despite all of that. It was only little things, and probably his imagination, but maybe this trip was one of those things. Maybe he had convinced their parents to leave him behind, knowing he would prefer to spend the summer with his friends. Heart lightened by the thought, Sirius picked up his quill and wrote his response to Lily.

"Dear Lily,

I'm glad to hear that. You're like a sister to me, and I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. I'll tell you everything, without giving away the secret, no matter what. I promise! And I won't get into anything dangerous. But if I do, you have my word that you will be the first person I contact for help. Mainly because Prongs, Moony, that's Remus, and Wormtail, that's Peter, will likely be in danger with me should any danger arrive. But don't worry so much! Everything will be fine, I promise! But don't forget to tell me all about your summer as well! It sounds rather dull, especially with your sister acting that way, but I'd still like to know what all you are doing to pass the time. After all, you are easily one of the best friends I have, and, as I said, my sister as far as I'm concerned.

~Sirius"

Sirius sent off his letter, feeling glad that he had made such great friends. He now had five friends he could count on. He had found a brother in James, whose parents had graciously taken him in when they could've easily turned him away. He had found Remus and Peter, easily two brothers he could never see existing outside of the little family he had formed for himself. And now he had a sister as well. A sister who was brilliant, sweet, kind, and everything one sibling could ever hope for in another! This family he had formed was the best family he could ever hope to have. And he had been lucky enough to find them almost entirely at once! Turning out the light, he lay back on his bed, chatting with James about nothing in particular until the two boys finally fell asleep.


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

**Chapter Twenty Four**

Summer was nearly over, though the days passed as if they were one endless day. That was what Sirius had wished for. He wished this summer would never end! But at least at the end there was Hogwarts and adventure to be had! And of course they could finally continue their work on the map. He doubted they would be able to finish it this year, there was still so much left of the castle to be mapped out. But at least they had some idea of what they were doing! A grin on his face, he began his latest letter to Lily.

"Dear Lily,

Today has been the best day so far! Moony finally arrived! We spent most of the day catching up and planning pranks for next year. Don't worry, I still plan on keeping my word to you! But we've gotta do something to liven up the Castle! Gotta keep Filch and the staff on their toes! And just a little while ago Wormtail showed up! He managed to convince his mother to let him join us for the rest of the summer! This is gonna be a great end to an incredible summer! How're things with you?

~Sirius"

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter spent their days planning various pranks that they could play on the school over the year, while making sure to include time to map out every part of the castle and the grounds. They set about creating a plan to find every secret passage possible, figuring out ways to make note of them on the map properly. They would also need indicators to show where each secret passage led, making sure to note what would be on the other side, not just where the path stopped. They also kept notes on different ways they could potentially enchant the map. After their latest planning session, Lily's reply arrived.

"Dear Sirius,

That's wonderful! I'm glad the four of you get to spend the rest of your vacation together. At least you'll get some time to enjoy yourselves before you have to worry about classes! And you better be keeping your word! If I find out you haven't been, you'll have to answer to me! Understand?! As for me, it's been rather dull. I can still have fun, since Severus keeps me company whenever he can, but it's just as dull as ever. Tunie ignores me no matter what I do. But I've gotten used to it.

~Lily"

Sirius read her letter with interest. Severus… Severus… Ah, right, Severus Snape, the Slytherin. Sirius rolled his eyes at the memory of the boy. He was irritating, always trying to catch Sirius and James, and even Remus and Peter, in the act of something. Even the smallest hint of a prank or some other mischievous action led the boy to attack the other four. They retaliated of course, it was a rather vicious cycle, but neither side was willing to stop and talk. Sirius considered it, he did regret his actions after all, but then that Snape boy would just go after his friends again and he'd react rather harshly. He wasn't about to let anyone harm his friends in any way.

"Dear Lily,

You're right, that does sound incredibly dull! But better to have someone than no one, right? And don't worry, I understand. I will never break my word to you. It'll be great to be back at Hogwarts soon. Sure classes cut into a lot of plans, but at least we'll all be back at Gryffindor Tower, together. No need to worry about going home again until summer! And best of all, no need to think about our birth families until summer! We get a full school year's worth of freedom! With a relatively small cost at that. And just think! Only four more years and then we'll be full-fledged wizards! We'll be able to do whatever we want! What do you want to do after Hogwarts?

~Sirius"

The Marauders spent the remainder of their vacation constantly together. Where one could be found, the other three were not far behind. They played games of their variant of Quidditch, ran amok in the town, and finally purchased all the supplies they would need for the year. They ventured through Diagon Alley, stopping by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for their favourite flavours, before hitting Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop. While they didn't always use the joke shop's products, they usually got decent inspiration by wandering through the rows of displays. There were the classics, like the Serious Shocker, Dungbombs, and even Nose-Biting Tea Cups. But this time there was something new! Dr Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start. No-Heat Fireworks! Oh, the fun the Marauders could have with these! Each of the four boys grabbed as many as they could carry, and as many as they could afford, and swiftly bought their newest delights. They could just imagine what sort of fun they could have if they set these off in the perfect place!

"Dear Sirius,

I can't believe how quickly time flies! It seems like just a few short days ago we were properly speaking for the first time! I still can't believe how well you hide who you truly are… Why do you? Why not just be honest with everyone? As things are now, they'll all just see you as some arrogant jerk, unworthy of even a second glance. Is that what you want? Do you want to be so isolated? Sure, the girls in our year are crazy about you, but they don't really see you as you are.

~Lily"

Sirius read over Lily's latest letter. Of course she would bring up his duality. He used a mask the way many others did, but he never did explain to Lily why he used this mask. Thinking back, he couldn't remember why they hadn't had this conversation sooner. They had spoken about every aspect of their lives, yet somehow they had never actually spoken about the masks they wear.

"Dear Lily,

I keep up this mask because I don't want to be a burden on others. They shouldn't have to know my back story, or feel like they should pity me. I don't need their pity. And really, I found my best friends despite this mask. If other people can't see beyond it then that's alright. It's not ideal, sure, but it suits me just fine. All I need are the people who can be bothered to take a closer look. You hide things from your closest friends. No one, except for me, knows about how your sister treats you. Though I suppose Severus Snape knows, because you two live in the same area. But even still, you hide yourself from others just like I do. Not to the same extent, but you're not exactly an open book either.

~Sirius"

Lily read over Sirius' reply, unsurprised that he turned the situation back on her. She couldn't blame him for wanting to hold back and continue wearing the mask. After all, his past, and his home life, wasn't the best. It was far from happy and it clearly tormented him. He acted arrogant, just like every member of his family seemed to. Sure she never really met them, but they held that sort of aura. The moved as if they were too good to share the same space as anyone else. Sirius, while arrogant in his own way, still had a great kindness to him. He acted so confident, but he freely admitted when he was wrong. To Lily, Sirius' family was a jagged blade, existing only to serve themselves, to prove they were the best and anyone else was unworthy of their time. Sirius was the opposite. There was a softness to him, a kind of strength that was warm and welcoming. Perhaps that was what had made her agree to share the compartment with him on the train last year.

"Dear Sirius,

I understand. Perhaps things are really better this way. You really are worth getting to know, I just worry that the mask will take over if you aren't careful. It's easy to get caught up in the persona. I was surprised how easy it was to tell you my story, properly of course. But, there's something about you that makes a person feel at home. If you still want to hide your troubles, that's fine, but don't hide anything from me, okay? We are family now, and family doesn't keep secrets from family! It's nearly time to return to Hogwarts. Promise me we'll still chat there! I know you are often busy, with whatever it is you, Remus, James, and Peter have been getting up to, but we should still set aside a time to just relax and catch up. Okay?

~Lily"

Sirius read Lily's letter and smiled. He never imagined he would be so lucky as to find someone like her to be a part of his newly formed family. He wrote his response, assuring her that they would have time to talk properly over the coming school year, and that he would never hide anything from her. Well, at least anything that solely concerned him. He still couldn't reveal Remus' secret, not until he got the okay, but that was a secret of a different calibre. He sent off his response, and reminisced on all that he had done this summer. It was easily the greatest time he had had outside of Hogwarts. This was his last night here, so he planned to make the most of it. He, James, Remus, and Peter sat in a circle and shared stories they had heard, legends of strange creatures and dangerous spirits. The spent half the night trading stories before finally falling asleep. Tomorrow they would return to the one place they could all call home.


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

**Chapter Twenty Five**

The day had finally come. The day the Marauders returned to Hogwarts. They woke up rather sluggishly, as they usually awoke, before realizing what day it was. With bright grins, the quartet rushed around to prepare for the day. They ran around the room gathering up their supplies for the year, trying to pack as quickly as possible. Every time they turned to dart for something else they needed, they nearly crashed into each other! At one point Peter and Remus actually did collide! Both fell to the floor, but quickly scrambled back up to finish their tasks. After finally grabbing everything they needed, the boys rushed downstairs for breakfast. Remus didn't eat much, but he never really ate much in the morning. He preferred to eat during lunch or dinner. That and he loved to snack on chocolate! He had such a sweet tooth the rest of the Marauders were amazed he actually managed to eat proper food. His pockets were always stuffed with various chocolates. This time they were filled with homemade chocolate treats, made by Mrs. Potter to celebrate the boys successfully moving on to their fourth year. Each of the boys had had some, but Mrs. Potter made sure to make extra so that Remus would have plenty to take with him on the train. Peter, James, and Sirius ate their fill, trying not to have more than seconds as they would miss the train if they stayed in the kitchen for too long. Mrs. Potter gave them the alert that it was time to go, then bid the boys farewell and headed off to meet up with a friend of hers in town. Mr. Potter apparated the boys to the station and guided them to the platform. The scarlet steam engine was crowded with students and their families, all trying to say goodbye while they had the chance. Mr. Potter bid them farewell, inviting Sirius to return back with them next summer as well, before returning home. The four best friends found their usual compartment empty and waiting for them, so they settled in and resumed their conversation. Though they had spent all summer planning, they wanted to make sure they had a clear idea of what they were doing and, just in case, several back up plans. They had to make this map work, not only for their pranking purposes, but also to help during the full moon. After all, it was a lot easier to get Remus to the Shrieking Shack if they knew the safest route to take. And dodging patrols from Filch, Mrs. Norris, the Head Students, and the Prefects. There were too many patrols to try to avoid, and without the map it was incredibly difficult to sneak around without detection, even with the invisibility cloak. The cloak helped a lot, but Mrs. Norris was never fooled by it. She could smell them, and always made a fuss unless they dropped some scraps for her. Ever since they found out about Remus being a werewolf, Sirius, James, and Peter took to carrying scraps of food around with them, just in case. Sirius kept the most scraps in his pockets, since he was the one who snuck Remus out of the castle every morning before the full moon to hide away in the Shrieking Shack.

Finally settled into their seats, James started up the planning session. "Alright, we've been over this a million times, but we need to be absolutely sure we remember this entirely! Wormtail! What is plan Alpha?" Peter sat up straight, took a deep breath to calm himself, and said "Plan Alpha, proceed as usual. Begin mapping out the second floor of the castle, end the year with mapping out the fourth floor. Continue pranking as usual to avoid suspicion." James nodded in acknowledgement, then said "Alright, Moony! What is plan Beta?" Remus sat in silence for a moment before saying "Plan Beta, abandon part of plan Alpha. Begin by mapping the second floor, but only map out part of it before moving on to the next floor. Continue this pattern for the rest of the year, hopefully ending with a portion of each floor properly mapped out." James nodded once more, satisfied that both Remus and Peter knew the plans so well still, despite the excitement of the return trip to Hogwarts. "Alright Padfoot, what is plan Charlie?" Sirius smirked and said "Plan Charlie, ignore plan Alpha. Map out any available floor of the castle, systematically working around patrols and classes. Throw in some particularly creative pranks to clear out an area that needs to be mapped out. Continue this pattern for the year, hopefully mapping out a significant portion of the castle before the return trip on the Hogwarts Express." James nodded. This was going to be a good year if they could stick to plan Alpha, but their back up plans were decent enough. Sirius leaned forward with a smirk and said "Alright then James, your turn. What is plan Delta?" James gave a laugh, realizing he had no other choice but to be the test victim this time, and said "Plan Delta, abandon all other plans. Map out only Secret Passages at first. Whenever the coast is clear, map out additional areas of the castle. This plan will result in the least amount of Castle mapped, but it is our best option should we face too many obstacles. This plan is our last result for this year, but it necessary to remember nonetheless." The four boys exchanged a serious nod. They knew what was at stake here. If they got caught, they would likely never be able to finish the map. If they got caught, then they would all be in serious trouble. And if they got caught, Sirius will have to answer to Lily for breaking his word. He vowed he would do whatever he could to ensure that this plan of theirs would succeed. The quartet spent the rest of the train ride reviewing their rolls. Peter and Sirius would map out the last of the grounds before returning to map out the secret passageways. Remus and James would map out each floor, marking most of the areas they could find. Sirius and Peter would then go over the area and mark out any hidden rooms or other missed areas of the floor in question, and with this team work they should be able to finish at least three full floors before the end of the year. As for the full moon, they would proceed as usual. James and Peter would provide excuses for Remus' absence, while Sirius would sneak Remus out of the castle and into the Shrieking Shack. Peter would then make food and water runs, travelling from the castle to the Shrieking Shack and back to ensure that Remus had something to eat and drink throughout the day. Finally, at the end of the day, Sirius, James, and Peter would sneak out of the castle, disguised in their animagus forms, and spend the night with Remus. They would keep his werewolf self in check.

Lily left her family behind once more, still ignored by the sister she loved so dearly. She sighed as she stepped aboard the train and set off to find her friends. As she walked, she thought about last year's train ride. She was amazed how one little train ride could change so much. She wandered up the corridor, memories playing through her mind, as she searched for the compartment that held her friends. On the way, she stumbled across the compartment holding Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter. They were talking animatedly about something, but she and Sirius still managed to lock eyes for a moment. They shared a smile, before Sirius returned to the conversation that had the quartet so enthralled and Lily returned to her search. She was glad he was doing so well, but time would tell if he would really keep his promise. Lily believed he would, but she couldn't help worrying that something would go wrong. She continued searching the compartments for what felt like an eternity before she heard a cheerful voice call out to her. "Lily! Over here! Come on and tell us all about your summer!" Alice called out from a compartment just ahead of Lily. Lily smiled and stepped into the mostly empty compartment. It appeared Alice and Lydia had kept everyone else away from the compartment while they waited for Lily to join them. "Hey girls, how've you been?" Lily said, smiling. "My summer was dull as usual, but at least I got to enjoy a break from studying! I don't know how I'm going to properly learn anything this year! Feels like my head is gonna explode with all the knowledge I had to cram into it last year!" Alice groaned, leaning her head against the window. Lily laughed at her friend's actions. Alice was sweet, and a brilliant witch, but she struggled when she had to work alone. She could be a bit of a ditzy dreamer, losing her focus and creating brilliant ideas that could be really useful. Trouble is the ideas she came up with would not actually help her on any exam. They could be useful in the years to come, after their time at Hogwarts is over, but they were distractions when it came to preparing for exams. So Lily always made sure to work with Alice, keeping her focused and prepared to take and ace any upcoming exams. Lydia spoke up next. "I got to travel with my family. We went to France, and Italy, and Spain, and ended our vacation in India. It was a wonderful trip! The muggles in each city we visited had such silly customs! Some of the muggles there claimed that magic was evil!" Lydia laughed at this thought before continuing to ramble about her trip. Lily and Alice traded grins and Lydia animatedly told her story. She acted out some of her adventures, causing Lily and Alice to nearly fall to the floor of the compartment, laughing. Lily sighed, happy to be reunited with her friends, as she thought to herself. This year held quite a bit of promise. She had a feeling this would be their best year at Hogwarts yet.


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

**Chapter Twenty Six**

Sirius climbed the stairs to the boy's dorm, smiling as he returned to his home away from home. Well, home away from James' home anyway. One of these days he would gather up his courage and leave his house for good. He only stayed there now because he had some small amount of hope that Regulus would break free from their parents and show his true nature again. Or at least, what Sirius hoped was his true nature. The Regulus he knew from their early days, before Hogwarts and their sortings. That Regulus was one of the bravest and kindest souls Sirius had ever known. But of course that oppressive house had finally gotten to him. He was sorted into Slytherin and followed his parents every wish. He was the prized son while Sirius became the black sheep. Sirius hoped he would get to see Regulus return to himself soon, but his hope was fading with each day spent in that terrible place. Every second in that dark and dreary residence left Sirius feeling as if his soul was being forcibly pulled from his body. But he didn't want to leave Regulus behind, not while he still had hope. Even if Regulus was ignoring him, choosing instead to obey his parents every command, Sirius couldn't help but care for his younger brother. They had been close once, and part of him held onto the hope that they could be close again. He sighed as he put away the last of his belongings, organizing them and moving them from his trunk to the side table. The last object to put away was a small photo album. Inside there were many photos of him, James, Remus, and Peter, but tucked away in the back was an old photo. The photo showed a pair of boys, sharing identical grins, nudging each other affectionately. The boys looked nearly identical, though one was slightly larger, lankier, and clearly the older of the two. The photo was taken the last day Sirius and Regulus had been happy together. It was the last day of summer, the day before Sirius Black took the train to Hogwarts to begin his first year. The fateful day that everything changed. With a sad smile, Sirius gently replaced the photo in the album and carefully placed the album in the drawer of the side table. He looked around the currently empty dorm room, reminiscing on the first time he stepped foot in the dorms. He, James, Remus, and Peter had managed to claim the room, as it was the only room with four beds. The other rooms had six to eight beds, all in a circle. But this room, this room was different. It was like it was made for them. Luckily the other first years had happily bounded off to the larger rooms, aiming to make as many friends as they could. The Marauders, on the other hand, wanted to have a place within Gryffindor Tower where they could be alone, separate from the other Gryffindors.

This room had been theirs for three years already, and would continue to be theirs until graduation. Sirius had carved their nicknames into the four posts of his bed. Each name had been added with care and, luckily, hadn't been removed over the summer. Sirius was brought out of his thoughts as James, Remus, and Peter entered the room finally. Sirius had left the feast early, feeling somewhat homesick despite the wonderful food in front of him. Perhaps he was overcome by the many memories that had been flooding his mind all day. Whatever the case, his appatite was gone fairly quickly. So, after only one helping, he returned to the dorm room before anybody else. James dropped onto Sirius' bed, wrapping an arm around his friend, and said "You doing alright? You left the feast insanely early!" Remus sat on Sirius' other side, offering a comforting gaze, and said "What happened?" Peter jumped up behind them, placing a comforting hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius sighed and said "I've just been thinking a lot. About family. This summer got me thinking that maybe I should just leave that house for good, and join you, James, Mum and Dad permanently. But every time I think about it, I worry about Reg. I know he's changed, and he still follows our parents blindly, but I still have hope. The hat hesitated. There are times I could swear he's still trying to help me when I'm trapped in that house. I… I just want to see him return to his true self, instead of playing puppet to our parents…" He trailed off briefly. James and Remus squeezed his shoulders supportively, while Peter gave him a gentle pat on the back. Taking a deep breath he said "I know it's not likely to happen, but I still have that bit of hope you know? And with all these thoughts I couldn't bring myself to eat anymore. So I decided to leave early." He finished his sentence just in time to find himself embraced tightly in a group hug. Peter, Remus, and James all hugged him as tightly as they dared, clearly trying to get their feelings across without words. When they pulled back, it was James who spoke. "You are welcome to stay with me, Mum, and Dad, whenever you want. If you still want to try to get your brother back, then I wish you luck. But don't forget to keep me in the loop, okay? We're brothers too you know!" Remus nodded and said "Yeah, after all we've been through, we're definitely your family now too! You shouldn't try to take this all on by yourself!" Peter chimed in, saying "Yeah! We're here for you too, so if we can help in any way just let us know!" Sirius smiled, laughed lightly, and said "I know, I'm sorry I worried you. But I promise I'll let you know if you can help me with anything." This moment reminded Sirius of just how lucky he was. Sure, his birth family wasn't the ideal family, but he had forged his own family. And this family was the best family he could have ever hoped for. Pulling out the map, which he had hidden away in his trunk, he smirked and said "Alright, enough of the sappiness. It's time to get down to business."

Lily climbed the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower with Alice and Lydia in tow. The feast had been just as amazing as ever, and all the students seemed to eat until they could hardly move! That is, all the students except for one; Sirius. In the middle of the feast, he silently stood up, stepped away from Gryffindor's table, and swiftly left the Great Hall. Lily was worried, but the look on his face showed that he would prefer to be alone. So she restrained herself, stayed in her seat, and tried to focus on the conversation she had been having with Lydia. Lydia rambled on about her plans for the Hogsmeade weekend that was coming very quickly. Lily ignored most of her words, only hearing a few snippets here and there as she thought about what could possibly be troubling Sirius. He had seemed perfectly happy on the train, and even when they sat down to the feast. Lily turned around, pretending to stretch, and noticed Regulus was directly across from where Sirius had been sitting. Ah, that would make sense. If Sirius had seen Regulus, it might have gotten him trapped in his thoughts. Sirius often acted like he didn't think about anything other than pranks or what else he could do to have fun. But really, he thought about quite a lot, especially his younger brother. He had told Lily about his hopes, that one day he and Regulus could regain their bond and escape the house they were trapped in. It was a long shot, in his opinion, because their parents had such a tight hold of Regulus. They kept him close at hand, trying to keep him under their control and away from Sirius. One letter, Sirius had mentioned, blatently stated that the brother's parents didn't wish for Sirius to be around Regulus because they thought he would corrupt him, making Regulus less of the perfect son and more like his brother the black sheep. Lily was saddened by this thought. Though she knew families were not always what they should be, she never really knew anyone whose family could be so cruel. She had thought abusive homes and the children from those homes would be easy to notice and identify. But, in reality, things were not that simple. Sirius was the perfect example of the old adage of not judging a book by its cover. From the outside, he seemed perfectly happy and content. He seemed arrogant, like the spoiled favourite son of a loving family. But in reality, he was using the arrogance to mask all the pain he felt. He kept up the smile, even when the pain was overwhelming, because he didn't want to bother others with his problems. He was the type of person who would silently bear the world on their shoulders to spare others from suffering through some form of burden. Lily was amazed at how well he disguised his true self. She still hoped he would show his real self to everyone in the future, but as long as he was happy with the way things were, she wouldn't interfere. And it was rather nice being able to be counted among the few who knew Sirius' true nature. She was lucky, and proud that she had gotten to know Sirius for who he really was. Though they never really spoke in public, they preferred to stick to their own circle of friends for the majority of their time, they always managed to find time to sit down and enjoy each other's company. Lily lay back on her bed as Lydia prattled on about nothing in particular and tried to imagine just what sort of wonders this year would bring.


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

Sirius sat in the back of the classroom, fiddling with a quill as he eagerly awaited the end of the lesson. Once again he was trapped in History of Magic. It was a wonder Professor Binns even bothered to teach. It's not like the class ever actually paid attention. Even Lily was struggling to stay awake as his dull voice droned on. She was easily the brightest witch in their class, but even her love of all things magic couldn't prevent her from nearly falling asleep each time the Gryffindors had History of Magic. Sirius figured if Professor Binns was this dull and sleep inducing as a ghost, he must have been just as devastatingly dull in life. Perhaps the reason he was still teaching was because his life was so dull he had nothing else but his routine. And that routine became so important that even Death couldn't stop him from following it. Thinking about this had Sirius imagining Death, the personified guide to the life beyond, just silently following around Professor Binns trying to be noticed by the professor without actually interrupting the professor. Sirius always imagined Death would be polite, always allowing those he needed to guide the chance to actually realize everything was over and they needed to move on before guiding them away. Sirius chuckled as he imagined how frustrated Death must be with Professor Binns. It really was strange the direction his day dreaming would turn whenever he was in History of Magic class. Any other class he only had normal day dreams of going off on an adventure or just being surrounded by the loving family he had formed. But for some strange reason, whenever he was in History of Magic he always found himself pondering the oddest and most incredibly deep questions. He pondered what happened after death, and whether there really were personifications for Death, Time, War, and so on. He thought about what the meaning of life really could be. He even tried to figure out where his family shifted. He couldn't believe they had been cruel from the start, so he tried to figure where along the line of his ancestors someone decided their family should be so stuck up, selfish, and cruel. He drew absentmindedly on the parchment in front of him as he thought. There had to have been some cause. But there was no sense in actually finding it. After all, only a fool would meddle with time! Sirius took a look around the room to see how the others were faring. James was asleep on his left, snoring softly into his parchment. Remus was on his right, trying desperately not to fall asleep. Every so often he would snap awake at the mention of an important date or name, jot it down quickly with his quill, and then return to the near sleep state he had been in. Peter, on Remus' right, was snoring rather loudly as he used his textbook as a pillow. Sirius was amazed Professor Binns had not already noticed Peter was not paying attention. Really it was amazing Professor Binns did not notice how the whole class was clearly not paying attention to the droning lecture. Even the best students had trouble marking down the important dates and names while listening to such a monotone voice.

The class shot up, awake, as they heard their cue to leave. Some of the sleeping students, Peter included, had even fallen out of their desks at the sudden announcement. The students staggered out of the door and headed off to continue their day. "Ugh! I don't know why we have to *yawn* sit through that ridiculously dull lecture! Even if History is important, there's no way we are gonna learn anything in that class!" James groaned as the Marauders made their way to the next class. Sirius laughed and said "Well at least it lets us take a break in the middle of the day! Sure we still have to actually study the information eventually to pass our exams, but we don't have to actually pay attention in class at all!" It was certainly nice to take a break and not have to worry about missing anything important. Sure the four boys had been goofing off in classes, appearing like they were learning nothing, since their first day of classes. But really, they were always paying attention. They just liked to use every opportunity they got to have some fun. No one actually saw how studious the quartet was. Well, they saw how studious Remus was, and how studious Peter attempted to be. But everyone assumed that James and Sirius were just trouble makers who didn't care about their classes. Yet, no matter what class it was, the quartet managed to achieve some of the highest marks in the class. Since the professors were always weary of the boys, assuming they would try to cheat if they had the chance, the professors would always keep an especially sharp eye on the quartet. Some even went as far as to enchant the boys' desks to ensure that there was no cheating. Despite all this, the boys continually did well in all their classes and never once cheated. This never ceased to surprise their classmates, who assumed the Marauders had actually found a way to cheat without getting caught. In reality, the four boys detested all manner of cheating. Sirius, especially, hated cheaters. He would use every chance he got to ensure a cheater was caught in the act, or suffered from a prank that would prevent them from cheating. The pranks he pulled on would be cheaters before last year's exams had been some of his finest work. Sure the four boys had no problem with bending rules, or even breaking rules, but they drew the line at cheating. Remus spoke up next. "Yes, the break is nice, though I wish we could actually learn something from that class. I always end up with so few notes! Just a few dates and a few names, and nothing to really tie them together!" He groaned a bit as he realised he would have to go digging through the textbook before the exam to properly study. With most classes all he needed was his notes. James laughed and said "Wow Moony! How you manage to get anything out of that endless drone of noise, I'll never figure out!" Peter piped up and said "Well, at least one of us got something out of this class, aside from a nap!" James, Sirius, and Remus all laughed at his words. Of course Peter, the notorious snoring fixture in History of Magic class, would bring up sleeping in class.

Lily yawned as she made her way to her next class. Lydia and Alice walked beside her, chatting away as they tried to stay awake long enough to actually wake up. The History of Magic lecture always left the trio ready to sleep for the rest of the day. "That was *yawn* somehow even more dull than usual! Did Professor Binns decide to try to put the entire class to sleep for the entire day? Did he spend the summer working out the details of his master plan?!" Lydia groaned, trying not to fall asleep while walking. Alice laughed and said "Oh come on Lydia, it wasn't that bad!" She paused as Lydia gave her a deadpan look. "Okay, so it was terrible, but I highly doubt the professor actually planned it out. He clearly likes to teach so much he's still teaching as a ghost, so why would he want to put the entire class to sleep?" Lydia thought for a moment before saying "Well, how am I supposed to know that? He's the mastermind of this devious plan, not me!" Alice and Lily laughed as Lydia continued to mutter about how devious their dearly departed professor was. "So Lily, what are you going to do over the Hogsmeade weekend?" Alice asked, ignoring Lydia and her continued muttering. Lily thought about it. What did she want to do? "Well, I want to start with Honeydukes, of course. Maybe we could drop by Madame Puddifoot's for tea, and then maybe stop by the Hairdressing Salon. Oh! And Gladrags Wizardwear! We could turn this into a grand event, the perfect girl's day! Well girl's weekend!" Alice giggled, clapping her hands excitedly, and said "That sounds perfect! Now I really can't wait for the weekend!" Lydia perked up at the sound of the weekend and said "Oh? Perfect weekend? Count me in! I'll even endure Binns' lecture twice over if it means I can enjoy the perfect weekend!" Lily smiled at their reactions and said "Alright, it's settled then. This Hogsmeade weekend, we are going to have the perfect weekend!" The trio cheered and moved on to their next class. As Lily settled into her desk, she wondered what Sirius would do over the weekend. Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter all seemed to vanish more often lately. Most assumed it was so they could plan and set up really elaborate pranks. This was certainly a possibility, as each year the quartet tried to pull off better pranks than the year before. But Lily doubted this was the real reason. Ever since last year, something was different. They snuck around more than they used to, not that anyone other than Lily actually noticed this. They were too careful. But ever since Sirius had asked her for advice, Lily had found herself more aware of what the quartet was up to. She wondered what they were really doing. She still had the nagging feeling that it was dangerous, incredibly dangerous. But she didn't dare ask Sirius what was going on. She refused to break her promise. Even so, she was sorely tempted to just follow them one night. In the odd nights where she couldn't sleep, she considered getting up, sneaking down the stairs, waiting for the quartet to make their move, and follow them. She wanted to be sure they wouldn't get themselves hurt. Sure, she didn't know Peter, and she didn't care much for James, but Sirius cared and that was good enough for her. Besides, she cared deeply for Sirius and she and Remus had been growing closer since she first spoke to him last year. They didn't speak nearly as often as she and Sirius did, but when they did speak, it was always pleasant. Remus was a sweet boy, and Lily wondered why he was so skittish around new people. He was nearly as bad as Peter when it came to confidence around strangers and acquaintances. Turning her thoughts away from the quartet, Lily readied her quill for the lesson just as the professor walked through the door.


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

Sirius paced the floor of the Common Room, waiting for James to come back down the stairs. Remus was feeling rather ill, most likely due to the upcoming full moon. Peter was going to stay behind to watch over him, but there was still much of the castle to be mapped. They would have to take off the full moon night to watch over Remus, but they couldn't afford to skip any other days of the year if they wanted to finish their map before graduation. If they worked through every other day of the year, even the Christmas Break, they could potentially finish the map within the next year or two! Regardless, the sooner they finished the better. With Peter and Remus unable to assist, James and Sirius were going to sneak about under the invisibility cloak and try to map out all that they possibly could. Well, as soon as James could find the invisibility cloak that is. Sirius rolled his eyes, annoyed, as he remembered James' fumbling attempts at locating the cloak. How he could have already misplaced the incredibly useful cloak, Sirius had no clue. His pacing came to a halt as he heard the thump of a pair of feet rushing down the stairs. "I've got it! Not sure how I missed it before, but I've got it!" James whisper shouted. Sirius shook his head and said "Took ya long enough! How do you manage to lose something so valuable so quickly?!" James shook his head and said "Hey! Don't blame me! Sure it's my fault, but this thing is tricky to find! The second it gets even slightly wrapped around anything it goes invisible!" Sirius just sighed as James covered himself and Sirius in the invisibility cloak and said "Maybe you should make a secret drawer or something so that you won't lose it again. It'll stay visible, and if it doesn't then at least it's trapped somewhere where you can feel it without a problem." James paused, then said "Huh, you might be on to something there, Padfoot! But enough of that for now! Time to get mapping!" With that the duo set off to map out what they could over the course of the evening. Sirius found his mind drifting as they walked. He had mentally mapped these floors his first year to make sure he wouldn't get lost. Then again, getting lost was usually the best way to find the well hidden passageways and old, forgotten rooms. He had been absentmindedly wandering when he stumbled across the room he, James, and Peter used for their animagus training. Sirius shook himself from his thoughts as he and James passed by staircase number one hundred thirty eight. James marked the staircase on the map while Sirius began counting. He carefully walked, heal to toe, marking out the size of the room. This first room was the Armoury. Pacing along the walls of the room, passing the various suits of armour, he noticed just how varied the suits of armour were. While all of them were clearly ancient, relics of a time long past, they were unique to various time periods.

After the Armoury, the duo mapped out the Trophy Room. Once again, Sirius counted the steps as he paced along each wall. At each corner, he would give the number of steps and James would carefully draw out the line for the wall on the map. In the trophy room, the duo looked over the Quidditch Cup, proudly displaying the names of the winning team. Last year it had been Gryffindor. The pair traded smirks as they found their names among their teammates. They nodded, the unspoken agreement that this year they would win once more. Stepping away from the trophy case, they moved on to the next room. The Charms classroom was next in the hall, and was simple enough to map. They marked down the Clock Tower Entrance on their way down the hall, noting the size of the entryway as well as its distance from the rest of the rooms on this side of the corridor. Turning back, and pacing the walls of the corridor once more, James and Sirius found themselves facing the main entrance to the Library. James sighed and said "This is gonna be difficult to map out. It takes up two floors, so we'll need to mark out the stair cases as well… This might take up the rest of the night! You ready for this, Padfoot?" Sirius waved his wand in the shape of a backwards S and whispered "Alohomora!" The lock on the door clicked. When Sirius pushed it gently, it swung open just enough for the two boys to pass through. Sirius smirked at James and said "Do you even have to ask, Prongs?" James laughed and said "You're right. It was a stupid question." Once inside, James carefully closed the door before following Sirius. Sirius began counting quietly under his breath, as James slowly drew out the boundaries of the Library. Each time they passed a stair case, James made note of its location, including how far it was from the wall. After the first floor of the Library was completely mapped out, the duo headed upstairs to finish the job. To the tired teens it felt like an eternity of pacing and counting and mapping. But finally they finished mapping every inch of the Library and returned down the spiral staircase. The nearest rooms completed, the duo set about mapping out the rest of the Third Floor. With a bit of luck they would be able to complete this floor tonight. As they walked along the corridor, Sirius stopped to point out the One-Eyed Witch and the passage she guarded. James carefully jotted down the location, including a note on how to open the passage. Satisfied with their work, they continued on. Throughout the evening, James and Sirius mapped out the Third Floor Corridor, the Charms Corridor, the other Classroom, the floor's Storeroom, and the Gunhilda of Gorsemoor Corridor. As the night drew on, the pair took to double checking their numbers to ensure they had not miscounted in their exhausted state. Finally, the entire third floor was mapped out. Their mission a success, the two stumbled back up the many, many stairs to Gryffindor Tower. After convincing the Fat Lady to let them in, they staggered to the boy's dorm and collapsed on their beds. They were not going to get much sleep, but they figured it was a price worth paying for completing their work on time.

Lily yawned as she prepared for the day. Her hands fumbled with her tie as she tried to get dressed for breakfast, still half asleep. She had been having trouble sleeping lately. She kept having this reoccurring dream in which she lost everyone she cared for. In the dream, everything started out like the beginning of Summer Vacation; Petunia continuing to ignore her existence, while Lily makes plans to meet up with Severus to chat and enjoy the day. Then, all of a sudden, Petunia would come up to her and start chatting with her. She acted like she wanted to be close again, like they used to. Lily was overjoyed, but then, just as everything was going well, Petunia shoved Lily out of the way, crushing her heart once more. She shouted abuse before turning on her heals and marching away, ignoring Lily's pleas and remaining out of reach. Then Sirius was there, comforting Lily at first, before turning on her as well. He called her a fool, laughing at how she had thought she could form a family bond with anyone after her sister decided to leave her. Then he too turned and left. No matter how hard she tried to reach him, he always remained out of reach. Then Severus turned on her as well, saying she was unworthy of sharing the same space as him. Finally, Alice and Lydia took their turn. Each added to the insults of the other, dragging Lily down deeper and deeper into despair. She knew it was ridiculous to think they would ever act this way, but she couldn't shake the thought that if one's own family could abandon them over trivial matters than perhaps all the people she cared for could turn on her. Distressed, she snuck a note to Sirius during breakfast and returned to the Common Room early, citing a missing text book as her excuse. Sirius read her note, and quickly left the Great Hall. He muttered something about forgetting his favourite quill, too worried about Lily to make up a clear excuse. James, Remus, and Peter watched on, worried, but they figured he needed his space and would explain the situation to them later. Lily paced in the Common Room, waiting for Sirius to arrive. At least, she hoped he would arrive. The dream still had her shaken. Luckily everyone was down in the Great Hall and wouldn't pester her with pesky question. As her mind started to prepare for the worst, Sirius rushed through the portrait hole and straight to Lily's side. "Lily? What's wrong?! Your message wasn't very clear, what's bothering you?!" He said as he looked her over to make sure she wasn't physically hurt. Lily smiled at his concern and said "It's alright Sirius, I'm fine. It's just…. This is gonna sound utterly ridiculous, but I've been have nightmares. Well, one nightmare at least, every night since we came back." Lily sighed, somewhat shakily, before continuing. "It starts out like a normal day during summer vacation, then it shifts. All of a sudden, things change. Tunie tries to reconcile with me, and things go great, but a short while later she laughs at me and casts me aside. Then everyone starts abandoning me; Alice, Lydia, Severus, and… even you, Sirius. And it just kills me…. I suppose I couldn't help but worry that this might become a reality…." She trailed off as Sirius hugged her close. She returned the hug, trying not to cry, as he spoke. "Oh Lily, that will never happen! I'd never abandon you, no matter what! We're family, and family sticks together! You're friends won't leave you either, so you can just forget that entirely. I dunno about your sister, maybe someday you will reconcile, but for now you don't need to worry about her casting you out a second time. But your friends definitely won't leave you, and I never could either. Because I love you, sister." Lily hugged him tighter at this and said "I love you too, brother." Taking a step back, Sirius offered her his arm. Lily laughed and took it, allowing him to escort her out of the tower.


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

Another full moon was upon Hogwarts. Remus was in bad shape. He couldn't even speak as the effects of the changing moon sent him into a feverish, delusional state. He was in pain and could do nothing more than nod his head yes and no to communicate. Sirius, James, and Peter were incredibly worried about him. He had never been this bad around the full moon before. At least, he had not in the past three years that they had spent with him. First thing in the morning, the day of the full moon, Sirius grabbed Remus and carefully began to take him towards the Shrieking Shack. Once more he borrowed the invisibility cloak from James and moved as swiftly as he possibly could. He navigated the many steps of the grand staircase, guiding Remus while offering up words of comfort. He narrowly avoided a patrol by Mrs. Norris. Luckily he had remembered to keep some scraps in his pockets. Dropping down the delicious morsels of food, he side stepped the calico cat as she happily ate, ignoring their presence. He guided Remus past Filch, silently muttering "It's alright Moony! We're almost there! Just hang on! It's really close now!" In his efforts to comfort Remus, and his joy at having managed to get past Filch, Sirius did not pay attention to his movements and crashed into something. Something that spoke! "What in the name of Merlin's Beard is going on?!" A familiar voice said, though whose voice it was slipped Sirius' mind as he tried to stabilize himself. Sirius grunted, checking to make sure Remus was okay, before looking up to see what he had bumped into. There, in front of him, stood an irritated looking Professor McGonagall. His heart sank, not knowing how he would manage to get Remus to safety now. Sirius knew he should try to run, but for some reason he remained frozen in place. Professor McGonagall raised her hand, moving it gently and slowly forward, until she made contact with the invisibility cloak. She grabbed hold of the fabric and pulled it aside, revealing a worried Sirius and a pained Remus. Startled, she pulled the two off to the side, along a narrow corridor, and whisper yelled "Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, what in the world is going on here?!" Sirius offered some words of comfort, clutching onto Remus to prevent him from falling, before saying "It's really bad Professor. I need to get him to safety. Moony needs to get out of the castle for now. Please, please let us go!" He pleaded with Professor McGonagall, trying to get her to leave them be. Professor McGonagall looked the two boys over before it clicked. Tonight was the full moon. Sirius was incredibly distressed, his eyes darting between her and Remus. Professor McGonagall nodded and said "Follow me." Before turning around and continuing down the corridor. Sirius stared after her, bewildered by her response. Not sensing the boys following, Professor McGonagall sighed, turned around and said "Quickly now! Time is of the essence!" This snapped Sirius out of his stupor. Keeping a careful hold on Remus, he followed her down the corridor to a small, well hidden, door. Professor McGonagall opened the door, revealing the grounds. Straight ahead, though off in the distance, was the Whomping Willow. "Remember this passage well; it's a short cut to the grounds. Filch does not patrol this hall, as it is well hidden. Use it when you need to, but be careful!" Professor McGonagall said. Beginning to walk away, she turned and said "And do take care of Mr. Lupin. And yourself." With that said, she disappeared down the corridor.

Sirius drew the invisibility cloak back around himself and Remus and swiftly began walking towards the Whomping Willow. He was amazed that Professor MCGonagall had been so understanding. She had not tried to force them to go to the Hospital Wing, or made them return to Gryffindor Tower. Instead, she had shown them a shortcut to their destination and even wished them well! He felt immensely proud to have ended up in Gryffindor with her as their incredible Head of House. All of Gryffindor should consider themselves lucky to have ever ended up with such a wonderful person watching over them! She was like the mother they all needed, and he vowed to repay her for all the help she had given them. But first, he had to help Remus. He set Remus down carefully, ducked under the Whomping Willow's club-like branches, and pressed the knot at the base of the tree. When the branches froze in place, he swiftly grabbed hold of Remus once more and led the way to the Shrieking Shack. After cursing the stairs, he brought Remus into the bedroom and laid him down to rest. Covering him with a blanket, Sirius watched over Remus. This was the worst he had ever seen Remus, even worse than their first full moon together. Determined, he stepped up to the boarded up window and whistled. A short while later, his great horned owl arrived. Sirius scribbled a brief note on a scrap of parchment he found in the room, using his wand in place of a quill, to send to James and Peter. He wanted them to know he would be staying with Remus today. He wasn't about to leave Remus alone for any length of time, not when he was like this. He made a note that they should bring food and water whenever they could, and that they should be prepared for tonight. He wasn't sure why Remus was suddenly so much worse, but he had a feeling they would need to change up their full moon routine tonight. Tying the message to his owl, he sent it away quickly, to find James. Sirius sat by Remus, muttering every word of comfort he could think of while anxiously awaiting the night. After breakfast, Peter dropped by. He brought food and water, telling Sirius that James had stayed behind to give excuses for their absences. After promising to come back when he could, Peter left. After lunch, James brought food and water. He told Sirius all about what he had missed so far, and what excuses were being used. Luckily, no one was trying to find out what was really going on. Everyone seemed to believe the lies James and Peter were telling them. Even Professor McGonagall seemed to be helping, as she provided additional excuses for their absences. Wishing Remus and Sirius well, James left. After dinner, both James and Peter returned to the Shrieking Shack, ready to start the full moon night. The trio watched the moon rise from the boarded up window. With a nod, they shifted into their animagus form and waited for their werewolf companion.

The shaggy dog whined sadly, nudging Remus as he tossed and turned. The rat kept watch on the moon, while the stag watched the shaggy dog. As the moon rose higher, Remus grew silent. The rat tapped the stag on the head, signalling the beginning. The stag tapped his front left hoof on the ground, alerting the shaggy dog. With one more gentle nudge to Remus' shoulder, the shaggy dog stepped back and anxiously waited. All was deathly quiet for a few moments, until a great cry of pain rose up from Remus' throat. His bones shifted as he cried out, changing shape into that of their lupine counterparts. Slowly, the cries of pain turned into a lone, heart wrenching howl. The werewolf stood, confused, and looked around the room. Agitated, he tried to lunge towards the stag, but the shaggy dog interfered. With a bark for distraction, he lunged at the werewolf, tackling him back onto the floor. The rat, stag, and shaggy dog became very vocal as the werewolf shook his head. His eyes clear once more, he turned his attention towards the other creatures in the room. He noticed the shaggy dog and gave a series of howling grunts for conversation. The Dog seemed to grin, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, before giving a bark and leading the way down the stairs. The stag followed behind, carrying the rat on his head. The rat clung to the stag's antlers, trying to maintain balance. The werewolf let out a laughing bark and followed the stag. The four made their way down the stairs, through the secret passage, and out of the trap door hidden by the Whomping Willow. Dodging the clubbed branches, the stag, shaggy dog, rat, and werewolf raced towards the Forbidden Forest. The shaggy dog led the way, egging the werewolf on with his barking, while the stag followed shortly behind, still carrying the rat. They ran through the trees, dodging fallen trees along the way. Smaller creatures, native to the forest, swiftly fled from their tasks as the stag, shaggy dog, and werewolf came bounding through the trees. The werewolf and shaggy dog set about a game of tag, or at least their equivalent. The dog would nip lightly at the werewolf and nimbly dodge away, bounding off to another part of the forest with the werewolf in tow. The werewolf would eventually catch the shaggy dog, send a nip his direction, and bound off in the opposite direction. The stag, not wanting to be left out, joined in their game. He would gently brush his target with his antlers, then rush off as they chased him. The rat would jump from the stag's head to the shaggy dog's head to the werewolf's head and back again. He would hang on to each of his friends in turn, enjoying the feeling as they ran. The four explored the forest, running free and happily. The werewolf seemed particularly pleased. From time to time, a darkness would settle in his eyes, but the shaggy dog was quick to fix this. The rat would sound the alert, giving a series of high pitched squeaks that matched the code they had decided upon earlier. The stag would then move to herd the werewolf towards the shaggy dog, while the shaggy dog would use his strength to shock the werewolf back to his normal self. As the moon began to set, the four returned to the Shrieking Shack, exhausted. Tomorrow they would have to work, but for now they could rest.


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

The next morning, as the Marauders made their way up to the castle, James laughed and said "That was a brilliant idea, Padfoot! We should run through the forest like that every full moon!" Remus chuckled somewhat weakly, still rather exhausted from the transformation, and said "I never thought the full moon could actually be fun. We definitely need to do that again!" He paused then said "Wait… I didn't hurt anyone last night, right?" He looked from Sirius to James to Peter, nervous that he had blacked out long enough to cause damage to his friends before they could help him regain control of his werewolf form. That was what he hated the most. Every time he transformed, he lost control and blacked out. Suddenly, there would be huge gaps in his memory. He would wake up, laying down in an unfamiliar area, often a forest clearing, and have no memory of what had occurred from the time he had fallen asleep. Luckily he had never actually attacked anyone, having had others secure a safe haven for him, but he always woke up with gaps in his memory. At least, until his friends began to join him every full moon night. He still had small gaps, when his werewolf self tried to take total control, but his friends were able to help him regain control. He wasn't sure how they had figured it out, how they could reach him when even his father could not. But he was glad he had them, and glad they were so willing to stand by him despite the danger he posed. Sirius smiled, placed a hand on Remus' shoulder, and said "Don't worry so much Moony! We're fine! You were perfectly well behaved for a werewolf. Everyone and everything is perfectly alright!" He gave a laugh as Remus sighed in relief, ruffled Remus' hair, and started walking ahead. With a mischievous grin, he turned around, started walking backwards and said "Race ya to the Great Hall! Last one there has to compliment Filch!" Laughing, he turned around and took off running towards the Great Hall. James gave a laugh before shouting "You're on!" He started running, slowly catching up to Sirius. Remus shook his head at the pair of them and started running after them, shouting "Wait for me!" Peter laughed and started running behind Remus, trying to catch up. The race was a close one. Sirius and James were neck in neck as they neared the Great Hall, with Remus slightly behind them, and Peter lagging behind him trying desperately to catch up. The quartet burst through the massive doors of the Great Hall, laughing, just in time to join everyone for the second half of breakfast. Sirius won, sliding into the hall, finally coming to a halt at his usual place at the Gryffindor table. James came in second, sliding just past Sirius, nearly falling over, but managing to regain his balance and take his seat at the table next to Sirius. Third was Remus, slowing gracefully to a halt halfway through the room and walking calmly over to his place at Gryffindor table, opposite of Sirius. Peter was the unlucky final Marauder to arrive in the Great Hall, sliding along the floor and straight into Filch! Sirius laughed at this rather fortuitous encounter and shouted "You lose Wormtail! Pay the price!" Peter quivered in place for a moment as Filch glared down at him before shouting "You have a lovely cat!" Turning around quickly, he snatched some breakfast from the table before running out of the hall. Filch was on his tail, shouting about troublemakers and punishment. This display sent the whole of the Great Hall erupting with laughter.

That evening, the Marauders returned to their mapping quest. They had completed mapping out the grounds fairly quickly thanks to Sirius and Peter, so now it was time to map out the rest of the castle. This time they would split up around the castle. Sirius and Remus would use the invisibility cloak and take one half of the floor while Peter and James took the other half. Before they started, Remus cast the Disillusionment Charm on James while Peter shifted into his animagus form. The rat, formerly the human Peter, set off ahead, counting out steps with a steady, specific, set of squeaks. James followed behind, mapping out the area on a scrap piece of paper, which would be transcribed onto the proper map after this was over. The pair of them headed along the fourth floor, mapping out the storage room, the bathroom, and Professor Binns' office. Remus and Sirius kept themselves shrouded in the invisibility cloak and mapped out the Fourth Floor Balcony, the Fourth Floor Corridor, and the Fourth Floor Hospital Tower Corridor. Once again, Sirius was in charge of counting the number of steps in between each area they needed to map out while Remus was in charge of marking the map accordingly. After stealthily mapping out the Fourth Floor Hospital Tower Corridor, Remus quietly spoke up. "Do you really think this map will work?" Sirius turned around to look at his friend, confused, and said "Of course it will! We're all working together on this after all. With your brains, my footwork, James' clever ideas, and Peter's dedication there's no way we can fail!" Sirius grinned, then paused and said "Well, I suppose failure is always a possibility, but really, when have we ever failed after putting our minds to something and working together?" It was true. Every time James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter put their talents together and followed through with an idea it worked. That was how they managed to become animagi and help Remus every full moon. If they had tried to act alone, or hesitated in anyway, things would have turned out differently. James, Peter, and Sirius would likely have failed to even become animagi in the first place. Or, assuming they succeded, they could have easily gotten caught by a professor or gotten hurt trying to help Remus stay in some sort of control during the night of the full moon. Remus smiled and said "Ah, of course. You're right as usual Padfoot." Sirius laughed and said "You really need to stop worrying so much Moony! Everything is gonna work out in the end! Just you wait!" Remus smiled in response, as he watched Peter and James return to their meeting place near the staircase. "Alright," said James from Sirius' left, "We've still got some night left, so next up we'll take on the Fifth Floor!" Giving a chorus of agreement, the quartet made their way up the stairs as silently as possible. Reaching the Fifth Floor, they pairs split off once more. Peter and James went off to map out the Prefects' Bathroom, the Boys' Restroom, the Muggle Studies Showroom, the Fifth Floor Hospital Tower Corridor, and Classroom 5B. Sirius and Remus split off in the opposite direction to map out the Art Classroom, the Music Classroom, the Fifth Floor Corridor, the Fifth Floor Classroom, and the Wizard Card Collectors' Club Room. Now that all four of them could dedicate their time to mapping out the castle, they were making great progress. Though they would still need to enchant the map when they finished making the map itself, it appeared that they would finish the map sooner than expected.

When they finally reunited Sirius said "This is perfect! At this rate we'll be able to finish the map by the end of the year!" James grinned at this and said "How're the enchantments coming Moony?" Remus thought about it before saying "I may need to do a bit more research for some of the trickier spells before we actually attempt to enchant the map, but it is looking surprisingly possible to pull off!" Sirius laughed and said "Still in doubt Moony? You've got this! If any of us could possibly pull this off, it's you!" Peter piped up here and said "Yeah! You are like some sort of genius! With you leading us on the spell work, there's no way we can fail!" James chimed in, saying "Yeah! Don't you know how this works? You're a genius, Padfoot doesn't like rules, I think I can do anything, and Wormtail encourages us all! With the four of us combined, and all our insane genius, anything is possible! Even something as crazy as this map!" Peter added "Yeah! I may not be as talented as you, Padfoot, and Prongs, but I am good at one thing. Being the support. Someone has to be here to remind you three that you can do the impossible! Especially when everything seems to be going wrong. I can sort of balance out the insanity, while you three pull together your different forms of insanity and do the most amazing things!" Most would be unsatisfied being less talented than their friends, but Peter was different. Peter seemed perfectly content to play the support. He took pride in being able to help his friends while they worked their magic. His spell work was not the best, and he was not skilled at Quidditch. He generally was not particularly creative, though he had his moments. Despite all of this, which could depress just about anyone, he was more than happy to just be with his friends and help them in any way possible. Usually that meant simply giving a few words of encouragement, fetching supplies, or even simply fetching snacks and encouraging the group to take a break. He ran around rather like the mother hen of the group, though if any one asked the quartet would unanimously answer that Remus was the mother of the group due to his constant worrying for their safety. Peter was rather proud of his role. It was not the most notable role. It did not get him recognition from those outside the group. But his role was just as vital as anyone else's. It may have even been more vital, as he was the stabilizing factor that kept the various forms of insane genius in check. Peter wasn't the type to care for the spotlight, so this role suited him rather well. At their words, Remus nodded and said "Of course, you are all right. I know I shouldn't worry so much. I'll try to work on that. But you all have to promise me you won't go rushing head first into a dangerous situation simply because you can!" He levelled them all with a look rather akin to Professor McGonagall's stare, and they all laughed. "You got it Moony! We all promise!" James said, trying to come up with a mother based nickname for his dear friend. "Yeah Moony, don't worry! We promise not to do anything stupid without you!" Sirius said, laughing as Remus shook his head with frustrated affection. "Yeah! Don't worry Moony! We'll stay as safe as we can! I'll make sure of it!" Peter said, giving his most confident grin in the hopes of reassuring Remus. Remus shook his head with a smile and said "Alright then, let's go! I don't know about you three but I am exhausted! Time for some well earned sleep!" The quartet silently cheered at the thought of sleep and made their way back to their dorm.


	32. Chapter Thirty One

**Chapter Thirty One**

The following night, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter snuck out of Gryffindor Tower to, hopefully, finish mapping out the castle. All that remained to be mapped were the Sixth and Seventh Floors. With all four of the Marauders able to work together at once, it seemed likely that they would be able to finish the mapping process tonight. Assuming nothing happened to derail their operation, of course. They knew what they were doing was likely going to get them caught, especially since it was the middle of the night and there was generally at least one patrol to avoid. But it was well worth the risk if it meant completing this map and helping Remus. After leaving the Common Room, James concealed by a disillusionment charm cast once more by Remus, Peter scampering after the trio in his animagus form, and Sirius and Remus under the invisibility cloak, the four made their way down the staircase to the Sixth Floor. James spoke up from somewhere around Sirius' left shoulder, saying "Alright, time to split up! Peter, head to the right here and start counting!" The rat gave an affirmative squeak and started down the hall, counting out the human sized steps while the disillusioned James followed behind and mapped out the area on a scrap piece of paper. Sirius and Remus nodded to each other and headed in the opposite direction. Sirius counted out steps while Remus marked the map, carefully leaving space for the piece that James and Peter were mapping out. James and Peter were covering the Sixth Floor Corridor, the Boy's Lavatory, the Disused Bathroom, the Glanmore Peakes' Corridor, the East Wing, and the Writing Supplies Room. Sirius and Remus started with the Study of Ancient Runes Classroom. It was fairly small, so the duo finished this area quickly. Next up was an empty office that had been used by the former professor, Professor Merrythought. Now though, it remained entirely empty which made it less of a risk to map out. Next was the Room of Rewards. It had a secret entrance, the room itself being one of the secret rooms the Maruaders had found in their second year at Hogwarts. Remus carefully jotted down the entrances the location, behind the portrait of Vindictus Viridian on the Grand Staircase, as they entered the room. Sirius looked over all the awards for achievements from students both past and present. He was surprised this room was hidden. Perhaps it was to prevent jealous students from destroying the records left here. After receiving the signal from Remus, who had stopped to double check he had mapped the room correctly, the duo set off for their next destination. Climbing back up the stairs, they continued on to Classroom 6B. Like the classroom for the Study of Ancient Runes, this classroom was rather small. It had little in it, a blackboard, a globe, and nine desks. This room was quickly mapped out, then it was on to the Storeroom. The storeroom was boring, holding no hidden secrets or lost items. Once again it was mapped out very swiftly. Then there was a small Empty Classroom. It was no larger than Classroom 6B and had even less in it. It seemed to be used more as a storage space for unused desks as opposed to a proper classroom. The mapping done, Sirius and Remus then moved on to their last destination for this floor, the West Tower Battlements. On their way, they had to quickly dodge Mrs. Norris. She appeared to be patrolling for Filch, but some scraps dropped near the staircase seemed enough to appease her. When Sirius and Remus finished mapping out the West Tower Battlements, they stepped out to find her heading down the stairs happily.

Meeting back up with James and Peter at the staircase, Sirius and Remus led the way up to the Seventh Floor. Separating once more, it was time to map out the last part of the castle. James and Peter went left to map out the Hall of Hexes, the Fat Lady's Corridor, the North Wing, the Disused Bathroom, and the Divination Classroom. Heading the opposite direction, Sirius and Remus started by mapping out Professor Flitwick's Office. It was officially the office for whoever was Ravenclaw Head of House at any given point, but Professor Flitwick had been the Head of House for long enough that students could not imagine anyone else having that office. Sirius counted out the distances for Remus, making note of the entrance to Flitwicks sleeping quarters. Overall the office was a nice one, but it was thankfully relatively small. Unlike some of the classrooms, this office was a decent size but felt smaller due to the clutter of books stacked up to the ceiling all around the room. Next they went to the Arithmancy Classroom. This room was much larger, holding a blackboard, large rows of tables, and many number charts. It was obviously a large room, but the clutter of charts and the large rows of tables left the room feeling simultaneously massive and tiny. Sirius silently looked over the charts as Remus reviewed the map. Arithmancy was a curious subject, but Sirius was not particularly interested in it. At least, not as a whole. The Number Charts were very interesting, as Sirius looked them over trying to figure out how they worked. At Remus' signal, he turned his attention back to the task at hand. Sneaking out of the classroom, they headed next door to Classroom 7B. A simple classroom, with nothing significant to note, it made for quick map work. Once that was done, the duo moved on to Classroom 7C. Once again, they found a simple classroom with nothing to mark what subject was taught here. It could have been some sort of storage unit for all Sirius knew about it. Next was the Ravenclaw Tower. Breaking in to map out the entirety of the tower would be troublesome, so instead Sirius paced the length of the door and its relation to the nearby spiral staircase. After Remus marked it down, they moved on to the Seventh Floor Corridor. Remus made note of each staircase in the area. There was the one they used to get from the Sixth Floor to the Seventh Floor. Then there was the staircase that led all the way to the dungeons. The Marauders had found this particular staircase during their first year, after a particularly boring day off from classes. Their work complete, Sirius and Remus returned to the Boy's Dorm back in Gryffindor Tower. On the way, they had to dodge Filch, who appeared to be doing yet another round of patrols despite the fact that the sun would be rising in just a few short hours. Luckily Filch was not as perceptive as his cat, so the invisibility cloak was enough to protect Sirius and Remus from his discerning eye. Once they made it back into the dorm room, the duo sat on their respective beds and anxiously awaited the return of their friends. Each second felt like an hour, every minute like a century. Remus paced the room, muttering about how much trouble they would all be in if James and Peter had been caught. Especially if Peter had been caught! He had been in his animagus form after all. Peter, James, and Sirius were all unregistered animagi, and that would get them in serious trouble if they were to be found out by anyone.

Finally, an eternity of ten minutes later, Peter and James entered through the dorm room door looking utterly exhausted. James spoke while Peter face planted onto his bed. "Sorry we're late. Had to dodge Filch and Mrs. Norris. Nearly got caught. But here!" He handed over the papers he had been clutching, bearing the areas he had mapped out that night. Remus took them and carefully transcribed them onto the actual map. The process was slow, but it had to be. Even the smallest mistake and the map would be effectively useless. James and Peter rested while Remus worked. Sirius sat back and lost himself in his thoughts. He couldn't believe they had actually mapped out the entirety of Hogwarts! They managed to mark down each of the secret rooms and passageways they had found in the past three years. Sure, there may still be secrets that the castle held, like the strange room they had noticed on the Seventh Floor that refused to be added to their map no matter how many times they tried, but they had mapped all that they knew. This plan had seemed entirely mad when they had first come up with it. Even Sirius had had his doubts about the outcome. He would have still tried regardless of the outcome, but that did nothing to stop the doubts that what they were doing was utterly bonkers. But, slowly, they had managed to map out small sections of the castle. With determination, they completed the entirety of the actual mapping process in just one full year. Sure they had had to break for summer, but they spent the second half of their third year mapping out the lower levels of the castle and mapping out the grounds surrounding it. Then, with this year now half over, they had managed to finish mapping the upper levels and all the secret areas they could locate within the castle. The quartet had pulled off something that was genuinely the most difficult undertaking they had ever attempted! Even more difficult than their time spent trying to become animagi! Sure that had been terribly difficult, but at least they knew that was possible. Animagi exist, but a map like this had never even been attempted before! At least, not as far as the four of them had heard. If they could pull off this ultimate feat, actually enchanting the map to do as they wished, they will have done something even the fearless Marauders considered impossible! Remus finished the last touches and said "Alright, it's all in the map now. All that remains is the enchantments." He pulled out some ancient looking books he had borrowed from the library back when he was still researching spells. Looking over the carefully bookmarked pages, he pulled out his wand and concentrated. A light blue-green coloured light began to emerge from his wand. It illuminated the map momentarily, before fading away. The map seemed to shimmer, as if it was alive, but Remus was not finished yet. He read over the next spell, concentrated, and unleashed a bright golden light. This time, foot prints appeared on the map. Each one seemed to populate a different area. But it was unclear why the foot prints were where they were. Remus took out the third book, focused on the spell, and unleashed a dark blue light. When it faded from the map, each pair of foot prints had a name attached to it. The next spell unleashed a bright red light, and the one after unleashed a greenish grey light. Finally, he tapped his wand to the map and said "We'll need some passwords for this. What do you want them to be?" James thought about it for a while, trying to come up with something clever. "Well, how about something with a solemn swear? And something about getting up to pranking?" Sirius perked up and said "What about: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good?" The other three thought on it, smiles growing on their faces, before they said in unison "Perfect!" Remus grinned, tapped the map and said the phrase. His wand continued to glow. "Alright, and the password to hide the map?" James and Sirius seemed to share a mind as they grinned and said in unison "Mischief Managed!" Once more Remus tapped the map and said the phrase. Giving it a second tap, the map folded itself up and appeared to be blank parchment. Utterly exhausted, the Maruaders went to sleep for the night, amazed that their plan had actually worked.


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

**Chapter Thirty Two**

The next day, the Marauders groggily made their way down the many, many stairs to breakfast. All their work had actually paid off, as it appeared their map was working the way they hoped it would. At least it had been when they checked late last night after adding the final enchantment. Sirius was still amazed they had managed to pull it off. He never doubted that Remus would be able to find the right spells and cast them properly, he always seemed to have a knack for that sort of magic, but he could not believe that they had managed to actually map out the entirety of the castle before the end of their time at Hogwarts. He thought it would take them clear up to their graduation day to actually map out every corner of the castle they could find, but they had managed to complete their map in just one year! One rather long year, but it had only taken one full year nonetheless. It had been an eventful year, with the constant dodging of patrols. Several times each of the Marauders almost got caught. Peter often had to out run Mrs. Norris who enjoyed chasing him every time he was in his animagus form. James nearly crashed into Filch on his patrols back when they were first starting to map out the castle. Sirius found himself, in his animagus form, dodging several Prefects and even the Head Boy once! They chased him through the corridors, noticing the lone dog wandering about. They missed the rat clinging to his fur, seeing only the shaggy dog that appeared to have gotten loose. He managed to lose them by ducking into a lesser known corridor and swiftly hiding in a secret room. Having explored the castle before, it was easy enough for each of the Marauders to avoid getting caught by whoever was patrolling the area they were trying to map at the time. They had to survive classes on very little sleep over the past year due to their mapping. Late in the night, when everyone else was sleeping, was the only time they could actually map without attracting attention. Sure, it nearly got them in trouble countless times, but it was all worth it in the end. Finally their map was complete and they could see if their enchantments worked. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter gave nods of acknowledgement as other students wished them good morning. Too exhausted to do much more, the quartet sat at their usual places at the Gryffindor Table and eagerly ate breakfast. Peter nearly fell asleep in his food, clearly exhausted after the previous night's adventure. He had had it the worst of the four, having to run around as a rat all night. Remus looked just as exhausted, though in his case it was from the particularly difficult spells he had been casting. Tonight they would try out the map properly, just make sure it worked the way they wanted it to. If this worked, then they could be more effective pranksters and escape on the day of the full moon without too much hassle. This map would help their remaining school days to go on without too much trouble. Well they would still likely get detentions, as James and Sirius were prone to do, but it would be easy enough to avoid serious trouble. This could probably help keep Remus from worrying about the others. James and Sirius got in trouble quite a bit, but Remus always worried that the next time it would be something much more serious than a simple detention.

The day's classes went by in a slow drone. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter moved from room to room in a bit of a daze. Remus, though exhausted, still managed to take excellent notes, which the others would copy down later. Peter managed to stay awake in every class, aside from History of Magic but really no body could stay awake for the entirety of any lecture given by Professor Binns. James spent every class doodling and trying to flirt with Lily, while Sirius spent his time half listening to the lecture and half day dreaming about living with James and his parents on a permanent basis. He imagined all that they would do together. They already spent every holiday together, aside from parts of summer if Sirius' parents decided they wanted to try to change him into their ideal son. They did this far too often. They would decide, out of the blue, that they were tired of trying to ignore Sirius and his rebellion. They would try to force him to return to their puppet, just some mindless drone that would do their bidding without a second thought. So far they were succeeding with Regulus, but their real success would be if they could manage to trap Sirius in their web as well. Their goal seemed to be to trap everyone in the family in their mindset and keep them trapped in the hate and pain that seemed to surround the supposedly illustrious House of Black. So many members of their family went insane or became mindless puppets, all because they had been forced to see the world from the very narrow view of the family. They put constant pressure on their children to be just like them that it created a vicious cycle. Those who rebelled, like Sirius, found themselves shunned by the family. And yet, perhaps since he was still young, the family tried to real him back in and turn him into the person they wanted him to be. The person they believed would represent the Black family properly, like they were training his brother to be. Sirius shook his head, trying to forget about his family. Sure he cared for some of them, but most of them were too absorbed with upholding the supposed family values that they did not care who got caught in the cross fire. Sirius' favourite family members were all people who had gotten taken off of the family tapestry for one reason or another. Some were taken off for interacting with muggles, and not attacking them. Some were taken off for being born squibs. Some got taken off because they chose to follow their own path regardless of what the family wished. Sirius was amazed he was still on the tapestry at all with how he constantly rebelled against the family. He swore that he would never be like them, yet he could not help but worry that they were affecting him. He and James lashed out against Severus Snape, sometimes out of sheer boredom, after James and Severus had begun a feud. Sirius was not sure what had actually happened between James and Severus, but he would not stop supporting his friend. He regretted their actions, often wondering if they were taking things too far, but James seemed content so Sirius decided not to bring the matter up.

Lily sat in class, daydreaming. She had been losing sleep over the past few months. She did not understand why she could not sleep, but there was a feeling of dread that constantly washed over her when she thought about it. Perhaps she felt this way because of her nightmares. Or maybe it was because Sirius could not seem to tell her the truth of what he, James, Remus, and Peter were up to. She was worried about them, but they were currently still alive and well, so she shoved the worry to the back of her mind. Though, they had been looking utterly exhausted the past few months. She wondered what they had been doing to make them look like the living dead, walking around the castle not really noticing everything going on around them. At least that was how it seemed to Lily. She had watched as they nearly fell asleep while eating during breakfast that morning. They were practically dead on their feet. Then, all throughout the first class, they had nearly fallen asleep once more. Though, Remus had managed to continue with his diligent note taking. Lily was amazed he managed to stay awake and actively take notes when he was clearly in dire need of a proper night's sleep. She scoffed at herself. She was one to talk about needing proper sleep. It had been far too long since she had slept through the night, and yet here she was thinking about telling others to stop what they were doing and sleep. She decided she would try to get a sleeping potion today. Maybe that would help calm her mind enough to let her rest properly. She thought all about what could be the cause of her sleepless nights on the way to the next class, Potions. As luck would have it, they were brewing sleeping potions today. Lily mentally cheered and made a mental note to save some in the extra phial she had brought. Today they had potions with the Slytherins, so Lily teamed up with Severus while Alice and Lydia decided to work together. She enjoyed working with Severus. He had always been kind to her, ever since the day they met. Plus he was very clever when it came to Potions. The two of them always managed to complete their potions properly, and even with some time to spare! While Severus took up the phial of their completed potion to Professor Slughorn, Lily carefully filled her spare phial with the mixture, placed the stopper at the top, and carefully placed it in her bag. The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, despite the History of Magic lecture leaving everyone nearly dead from boredom. After dinner, she returned to the Common Room with Alice and Lydia. The three chattered on about nothing in particular. At least, nothing that Lily could remember. She kept losing herself in thought, trying to plan out when to take the sleeping potion, and trying to figure out what she would do if this plan failed. After a conversation she mostly ignored, Lily returned to her dorm room. Inside were six beds. She passed by those belonging to Mary, Suzan, Raven, Lydia, and Alice before finally coming to a stop at her own bed. Putting away her belongings, she brought out the phial and looked over the contents. Calming herself down and working up her courage, she pulled out the stopper and drank the entire contents of the phial. Finally, she managed to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

**Chapter Thirty Three**

Sirius was excited. He, James, Remus, and Peter were about to test out the map for the first time. Remus had mentioned all the different spells he had used. Most of the names slipped by, never to be remembered by anyone else in the group, but one had an interesting name; The Homonculus Charm. Remus had explained that it was an advanced charm that allowed the map to track the movements of everyone in the castle. Sirius was amazed at how much Remus had managed to do. He had found a spell that would do everything they had planned for the map to do. He had found the Homonculus Charm, as well as several unnamed charms that proved useful. When they tested the map, very briefly after enchanting it, they found that even in animagus form or under the invisibility cloak the map was able to track their movements. This was just what they had wanted, as they would need to be able to track anyone, even if they had an invisibility cloak like James. Remus had pulled off the impossible! The quartet gathered in their dorm room after dinner, pulled out the map, and prepared to test it. Remus tapped the map with his wand and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." As he finished, the map came to life. In a scrawling script appeared the words

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers

Are proud to present

The Marauders Map"

The Marauders gasped in astonishment, watching as their creation properly came to life. Sirius was the first to speak. "Moony, you're a genius!" James nodded and said "Only you could actually make this thing work so quickly!" Peter joined in next; an ear to ear grin plastered on his face, he said "It's absolutely perfect!" Remus grinned sheepishly and said "Honestly, I wasn't sure it would really work, but here it is! I don't know what it will do if someone tries to use the map without saying the proper code phrase. The charm I used is supposed to make it insult the person, but I don't know if it will actually work or not. I don't even know what it will say. It'll probably change depending on the person but it should work, I mean, I followed the instructions for the spell to the letter…" he began rambling as he thought about how he had cast the spell, trying to remember if he had actually cast it properly or if he had misread something. Sirius put a hand on his shoulder and said "Moony, relax. It's perfect! You did amazingly well! This is easily your best work!" "Yeah! None of us could have pulled this off without you Moony! So don't worry about it!" James added, lightly punching Remus' arm. Peter looked over the map, watching the footsteps move about in the same manner as their owners. "So, this is everyone currently at Hogwarts?" He asked, looking at the map in awe. Remus nodded, pointing out some key people. "There's Professor Dumbledore, pacing in his office. Professor McGonagall leaving her office, and there's Filch starting his patrols. And here we are, in our dorm room. Everyone, everywhere, in the entirety of Hogwarts!" Remus was amazed by what they had managed to accomplish with this map. He wondered what they could possibly do to top something like this. Not that he was interested in trying to create something any more complicated but, knowing James, there would be another project in the works soon enough. Well, he would be ready for it when it happened. He would have to be the one to make sure the others did not get into serious trouble.

The Marauders looked over the map watching as people went about their lives. Various Professors left their offices to return to their sleeping quarters or to begin their patrol. The Head Boy and Head Girl were in their respective common rooms, most likely making sure their own house was in order before they left to start their patrols. Filch and Mrs. Norris were patrolling the lower levels of the castle. Hagrid was in his hut with Fang. Professor Dumbledore was facing near the windows of his office. Madame Pomfrey was moving around in the Hospital Wing, likely completing her rounds for the evening. Madam Pince was closing the library, her footprints heading off towards a room the quartet assumed served as her sleeping quarters. Students wandered about between dorm rooms and common rooms. Some were ushered into their common rooms by professors. The secret passages, seven of which led to Hogsmeade, remained unutilised. Sirius smirked and said "This is absolutely perfect! We'll easily make it to and from the Shrieking Shack with no problems now! We'll still need the invisibility cloak, sure, but now we can take the best routes and avoid every patrol!" James grinned and said "Not to mention all the pranks we can pull now! We can even mess with Filch's Office!" He starred off into the distance, imagining the possibilities. Sirius laughed, knowing that the look on James' face meant some great pranks were in the works. Remus shook his head fondly at his two friends, knowing they would get themselves in trouble for this at some point. But their pranks were enjoyable, so he wasn't about to stop them. Especially if they were pranking Filch! That man seemed to have some sort of strange vendetta against the students of Hogwarts, regardless of which house they were in. Remus could never figure out why Mr. Filch hated the students of Hogwarts so much. And he often wondered why, if he hated the students so much, he continued to work at the school. It made no sense! Remus shook himself from his thoughts as James started rambling about changing Filch's office into a jungle. He laughed at the idea, wondering why James wanted to turn the office into a jungle and how he decided a jungle was the best choice. With his determination, James could turn that office into just about anything. So what was it about a jungle that made it the best choice for this prank? James continued to ramble on about his ideas for pranks. Remus, Sirius, and Peter ignored him, knowing he preferred to think out loud. Instead they focused on their own conversation as they awaited his final decision. "So Moony, how did you find all the spells we needed?" Sirius asked. Remus shrugged and said "In the back of the library there were some really old books, filled with the more advanced spells. It took quite a bit of looking, but I finally found a book called 'Charming Charms from Days of Olde.' It was tucked away in a darkened corner of the library, and the writing was rather faded, but it had most of the spells we needed. I had to find a few others for the defensive spells we wanted, to protect the map, but other than that everything we needed was in one forgotten book." He had been amazed by his own luck at stumbling across such a perfect book. He wondered if maybe someone else had helped, guided him to that specific spot. But that was a ridiculous thought. So he simply smiled and said "Regardless, all that matters now is actually using this map to its full potential. Now we just have to wait for Prongs to give us a place to start."

Lily sat back, studying for the upcoming exams. It seemed that all the professors here at Hogwarts conspired to have all their exams on one day! It was madness! Lily found herself buried in notes, trying desperately to maintain her composure as she tried to memorise every fact she had been taught up until this point. History of Magic would be the most difficult to study for, as the class was difficult to pay attention to. Lily had loved History at the muggle schools she had gone to, but Professor Binns had the most monotonous voice! It could put even the most diligent student, like Lily, to sleep in a matter of seconds! Lily found herself wishing muggle technology worked within Hogwarts. She could have recorded the lectures and used a spell on her quill to have it transcribe the lecture for her notes. Then she would know exactly what she needed to study for the exam, instead of glaring at her textbook and hoping to learn everything that had been covered since the year began. Her notes had dates, a few names, and the names of some major events, but that was all she had managed to write down. If they had a different professor, the class would likely be more alive. But for now, they all had to struggle just to survive. Lily still managed an O in History of Magic each year, but it was incredibly difficult. Growing frustrated with History of Magic, she shoved aside the textbook and pulled out her Charms text book. Looking over her notes, she decided to practice the spells that Professor Flitwick had said would likely be on the exam. She had practiced these spells plenty of times in class, but a little more practice would not hurt. She wanted to be able to cast in her sleep if necessary, so that she would not have to worry about hesitating when trying to cast. Lily was a bit of a perfectionist, always wanting to do everything as perfectly as possible. Due to this she ended up with straight O's since her first year, and this trend was likely to continue until her graduation. As she practiced, she watched the effects of the charms take place. Each one worked flawlessly, due to her diligence. As she finished with her Charms study, she let her mind wander. She could not believe it was already her fourth year at Hogwarts. Just four years ago, though it felt like it was simultaneously much longer and much shorter, she had not even known she was a witch. She could make things happen, but she had no answer to the question of why these things would happen. Her favourite was jumping off of the swings and falling gracefully, and slowly, down to safety. In those days everything seemed so simple, aside from the strange bursts of magic. Then she had found out the truth, thanks to Severus. Finally, she received her letter. Hogwarts had accepted her. And here she finally learned all about the magical world. It never ceased to amaze her just how much there was to learn. And there were still three full years left! Lily, who had been surrounded by the muggle world from birth, found herself completely enamoured with the wizarding world. She gladly sat through every lecture, even those given by Professor Binns, for the sheer joy of learning. Every day she spent in the castle was a chance to learn all about the world around her. And Lily would not trade even a second of it for the world. A smile on her face as the tension faded away, Lily remembered just why she loved her classes and her life at Hogwarts. With these thoughts in mind, she happily returned to her studies.


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

**Chapter Thirty Four**

Fourth Year and Fifth Year had passed by in what felt like a matter of moments. With the help of the map, Sirius and his friends pulled off some of the most amazing pranks. Not once did they get caught, though they still ended up with detentions for more minor offences such as disrupting class. Each full moon, they accompanied Remus on his werewolf adventure, keeping him in check whenever he showed signs of losing himself to his other half. At home, life kept worsening for Sirius. His brother was completely lost to him now, hating even the sight of him as their parents did. In a small corner of his heart, Sirius still held out hope that Regulus was not truly the person he appeared to be. But he chose to ignore that hope. No matter what he did, Regulus only showed disdain for him. He ignored Sirius whenever he could, and berated him when he could not. Sirius began to make a genuine plan to leave the family home forever. Up until this point it had just been a wonderful dream, running off never to return. But now, plans had to be changed. He had originally planned to take Regulus with him but that was clearly no longer possible. The family's darkness had warped his mind and turned him against Sirius. So now Sirius sat, starring at the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, trying to form the perfect escape plan. It would need to be soon; he didn't know how much longer he could stand to have ties to that terrible house. He at least knew where he would go. He would return to the Potter house and join their family properly. They had constantly reminded him that he was always welcome there when the doubts crept into his mind. And he had spoken of living there permanently before. Granted he had been talking about a wonderful dream he had had, but they all seemed to welcome the idea of having Sirius as a constant companion. Now all that was left was choosing the time to leave, grabbing his few remaining belongings from the Black family home, and making his grand escape. Thoughts of potential dramatic exists flowing through his mind, Sirius finally went to sleep.

The year began to go by in a painfully slow manner. Each day Sirius tried to focus on classes, pull off wonderful pranks with his friends, prepare for the next full moon, and try to complete his plans. The holidays were quickly approaching, leaving Sirius dreading every new day. He would have to return to his family's home this year. His parents had sent a letter telling him exactly what would happen if he did not. So, to spare his friends from the potential danger, he prepared for the faithful day of his return. His plan was ready, so all that was left for him to do was actually step up and make the first move. He would have to make sure he took the initiative or else his parents would find a way to keep him trapped in that dreaded house for the foreseeable future. He shuddered at the thought, but there was no turning back now! The day of the train ride back to Kings Cross turned quit and tense rather quickly. His friends could tell something was off but could not bring themselves to ask. They saw the determination in his eyes and realized quickly that whatever he was about to face was his to battle alone. They tried to start hundreds of conversations, but none of them could figure out the right words to say. So instead they focused on watching the passing scenery. Each started to daydream about their own holiday traditions. Peter saw himself back home, baking cookies with his mother, and decorating their tree with every ornament he could find. Remus saw himself exchanging presents with his dad, excitedly watching his reaction to the gift Remus had carefully selected. James saw himself and Sirius with their parents, their meaning Mr and Mrs Potter of course, in their cosy home eating the delicious Christmas feast. He saw them trading presents and singing carols. He could not wait to hear Sirius sing "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs" again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the train pulled into the station. The quartet said their farewells and went their separate ways.

Sirius took a deep breath after his friends left, steadying himself, before taking a step towards his family. His parents stood at the far end of the platform, clearly trying to avoid contact of any kind with everyone they deemed unworthy. Sirius managed not to roll his eyes as he watched them. Regulus managed to reach their parents first, but Sirius was unfazed. He took his time reaching the trio, his last act of rebellion for the moment, as he ran through his plan one last time. He did his best to ignore his parents' cutting words. His mother in particular seemed to enjoy berating him for his existence. He had heard all of her insults before but for some reason she insisted on repeating them both on the platform and the second they returned to their home. She praised Regulus for his accomplishments, adding subtle jabs towards Sirius with every sentence, before sending the boys off to prepare for dinner. Unable to take it any longer, Sirius set his plan in motion. He went to his room, packing what belongings he could into his trunk, before biding a silent farewell to the pictures and Gryffindor related materials he had kept on the wall with a permanent sticking charm. He wished he could take all of it with him, but at the same time he knew leaving it behind would just add to his rebellion. Sirius took his trunk to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of floo powder along the way. His parents, seeing him dragging the trunk behind him, followed him, shouting at him to stop. Regulus peered into the room, curious to find out what all the shouting was about this time. Sirius smirked at their enraged looks and said "Well this has been a wonderful holiday, but I must bid you all farewell. This house is far too full of your ignorance and blind hatred, so I am moving out. To the Potter House!" At these last words he threw the floo powder into the fireplace with a dramatic flair and finally made his escape in a flare of green flames. Even Sirius had to admit it was incredibly dramatic, bordering on the overdramatic, but it was an exit Sirius could be proud of. He stepped out of the Potters' massive fireplace and into their wonderful living room. Hearing the commotion, James and his parents entered to find Sirius with a bright grin on his face. "I'm home!" He said, beaming as he awaited their reactions. The trio looked from Sirius to his trunk and realized what had happened. With bright smiles of their own, the three rushed over and engulfed him in a hug saying "Welcome home, Sirius!"


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

**Chapter Thirty Five**

After spending the best Christmas together yet, James and Sirius returned to Kings Cross station, bid farewell to their parents, and boarded the train to meet their best friends. Choosing their usual seats, James by the compartment door and Sirius on the opposite side near the window, the duo began planning their pranks for the rest of the year. They had the most brilliant idea ever, at least in their minds: pull off practically nonstop pranks for the second half of the year and then pull absolutely no pranks the following year. This plan was partially due to their impending graduation, and the joy of watching the entire castle constantly on edge awaiting the next prank, and partially due to James' obsession with Lily Evans. Over the years he had gone from shameless flirt to head over heels in love. He had dated many other girls from each of the houses, but his mind and heart always seemed to return to Lily at the end of the day. Sirius shook his head as he listened to James ramble on about Lily. So far Lily was anything but impressed by James' attempts to ask her out. He went into a nose dive during a Quidditch match and tried to kiss her on the way down once, but only received a slap instead. Then there was the time he tried to prank the entire school just to clear out the castle long enough to speak with her alone. That definitely did not go according to plan. The staff and students were running amok as a giant, semi-sentient slime cube went on a rampage through the castle. James ended up stuck in detention for a solid month, beginning his sentence by cleaning up the mess left behind by the slime cube. Sirius could not believe just how far James would go to try to convince Lily to even speak with him. But it looked like he might be making a change for the better. Sirius decided he would do his best to help James this time. But first he would have to gage Lily's feelings. He nodded to himself, determined, just as Peter and Remus entered the compartment and took their places.

Sirius' plan to talk with Lily ended up getting lost in the shuffle of responsibilities. He had pranks to pull, full moons to plan for, and of course homework to do. Though he often acted like a slacker, not always paying attention in class, but contrary to popular belief he actually did all of his homework for each class, and he did them well. He may be more interested in pranking then sitting in class, but that did not mean he hated learning. He loved magic! He just hated having to sit in a classroom and listen to a professor drone on for hours on end. So instead he'd study on his own to make up for the lack of attention in class. He and James would work together, learning everything that the professors were trying to teach but with their own methods, and end up with high marks in all classes. This always stunned people, but James and Sirius knew what they were doing. Now that they were nearing the end of their time as students they were more determined than ever to prove they were more than just pranksters. Sirius sighed as he packed up his work for the day. It seemed like every professor was determined to kill the students under the weight of their assignments. He looked up to find himself alone. Confused, he tried to remember what had happened to James, Remus, and Peter. He remembered comparing answers for the History of Magic assignment, and then beginning the Transfiguration essay, but after that it was just a blur. He shook his head, trying to shake loose some of the memories, but only managed to make himself slightly dizzy. Giving up, he moved to sit by the fire and relax for a while. He watched the fire dance on the logs as he thought. His future was his own finally, now that he was free from the devastating house of his childhood. He was finally free to decide what he wanted to do with his life. The trouble with that was he had no idea what he wanted to do. All he knew was that he wanted to spend the rest of his days with his best friends. He smiled at the thought as he continued to watch the fire. At that moment, a small sound like footsteps alerted him to the presence of another. He found he was no longer alone.

Lily left the girls dorm for a bit of a break. She loved her roommates, but they always managed to get annoying by the time they noticed the end of the school year was near. They were busy chatting about summer plans and ideas for future careers by the time Lily managed to slip away. She shook her head fondly as she thought about all the time they had spent together. She knew there was still a full year until graduation, but she could not help the waves of nostalgia that engulfed her as she walked. Next year she would be so busy with NEWTs she feared she would not be able to take a break to think back on all the years she had been in this wonderful school. Sure, it had not been all good but she would not trade the memories she had made in this castle for the world. She stepped lightly onto the floor of the empty common room. At least, she had thought it would be empty by now. Her gaze turned towards the silhouette in front of the fireplace. "Sirius." She whispered as she stepped forward. He looked up at the voice, smiled, and said "Hey Lily. Fancy finding you down here this late." She laughed and said "Oh you know me, always one to shake up expectations." She sat beside her friend. He turned his attention to the fire and said "Hard to believe we're nearly in our seventh year already…. Seems like just yesterday we were sharing a compartment after our friends ditched us." Lily laughed and said "I know what you mean…. It also seems like just yesterday James Potter decided it would be a good idea go into that nosedive on the Quidditch pitch…. Or when he tried to prank the entire school at once all on his own…. Or the time he lost Gryffindor 100 points for hiding dungbombs in the professors' bags!" She shook her head and said "I have no idea what the other girls see in him. He's just an annoying buffoon!" Sirius laughed at that and said "Call him what you will but it seems like he has captured your heart, Evans." Lily snorted and said "You are completely bonkers, Black." Sirius shook his head and said "I'm not the one constantly speaking about someone I supposedly hate." He stood up and started to walk away, before pausing to say "You know, there's a fine line between love and hate. So, do you hate him? Or do you actually love him? Think about it, Lily." He lazily waved his hand to bid her goodnight and set off to his own dorm. Lily stared at his retreating back before turning her attention to the fire as she thought about his words. There was no way she could be in love with James Potter…. Right?


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

p class="MsoNormal"strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chapter Thirty Six/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Graduation had come and gone, and Lily had found herself more in love with James Potter than ever before. The two had only been dating a little over a year, but neither could imagine returning to a life without the other's constant companionship. They managed to find plenty of time to be alone but, more often than not, their days were spent in the company of the rest of the Marauders. Sirius practically lived with Lily and James, spending nearly every waking moment in the couple's new home, while Remus and Peter dropped by to visit whenever they had the chance. Which was only natural, considering the wedding was just a few days away. Lily glanced down at her ring, smiling as she remembered James' proposal. He had stuttered, blushing, as he tried to form the words. As he continued to fumble, Sirius shouted from a nearby table "Merlin's beard! Lily Evans will you marry James Potter?!" She laughed at the memory. Of course she had said yes immediately. The two shared a most magical kiss, and then went off to celebrate with the trio that had been following them the entire night. She had figured out early on that the Marauders were a package deal; choose a relationship with one and you would be stuck dealing with the remaining three on practically a constant basis. But Lily did not mind. She loved the Marauders. They managed to brighten her day in a way that no one had before. So when she and James found their lovely new house, she had made sure there would be room enough for all the Marauders to stay. She started to arrange her dress and veil as she thought about the ceremony. In just two days, she would be marrying the man she loves with her newly formed family by her side. Sure, she wished Petunia could be there to celebrate as well, but she was more than happy that she could have so many beside her at this happy moment. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A few days later, Lily could barely contain her unbridled joy as she walked down the aisle. James stood at the other end, pride radiating off of him in equal measure to his obvious joy. Sirius was beside him, showing Lily what was easily the most sincere smile he had ever worn. He gently put his hand on James' shoulder as James practically bounced with joy. Next to him, Remus laughed at James' antics. Peter stood beside Remus, beaming with pride as he saw his friends radiating pure joy. The crowd was full of familiar faces: Lily and James' parents, Remus' father, Peter's mother, all of Lily's friends, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, and even Madam Hooch. This would definitely be wedding that none present would be able to forget anytime soon! When the ceremony started, everyone watched on in awe, some already in tears from the beautiful sight, until the couple said their vows. They sealed their vows with a touching kiss, which the crowd rewarded with a standing ovation. During the reception, there was a small commotion. The members of the Order of the Phoenix, all that were present at the wedding anyway, were alerted by the arrival of a messenger. There was trouble brewing, so a few members of the order bid their farewells and set about silently returning what semblance of normalcy they could to the world while the bride and groom kept the crowd distracted and happy. There was no need to incite a panic just yet, after all. For the rest of the night, Lily, James, and all of their friends and family danced and laughed and shared stories, pushing aside the worries they held for the future. The next day they would all have to return to their jobs, fighting against Voldemort and his Death Eaters to protect those they loved, but for now they could relax and forget about the dangers that certainly lay ahead. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The next year and shown James and Lily that they were just as strong a team as they had been since they started dating. The death of James' parents, the cause of which was dragon pox, had proven quite a shock. But James had managed to pull himself up with the help of the Marauders and Lily. He used some of his inheritance to help Remus, who could not seem to find a job thanks to the disdain with which werewolves are often treated. A short time after this, James and Lily were pleased to discover that they would have a child. They did their best to prepare, despite their nerves and all the worry that they would lose their child thanks to this war. But finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Lily gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, which the pair named Harry, on 31 July, 1980. However, this was also troubling news. A short time after their son's birth, they discovered they were in grave danger. A prophecy had foretold of one child, born around the same time as their son, who would grow to defeat the dastardly Lord Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore had told the pair that they would need to hide if they wished to protect their son. The pair was slightly reluctant, as they wished to fight to protect him themselves. But they knew that hiding would give their son the best chance of survival. So they prepared to use the Fidelius Charm, their last line of defence. James of course insisted that they would use Sirius as their Secret Keeper, and Lily happily agreed. He was their closest friend after all. But when they asked him, he refused. Lily was surprised, but before she or James could speak, Sirius explained. "Voldemort will know that you would choose me as your Secret Keeper. I'm the obvious choice, given all that we have been through over the years. But we could use that to our advantage." Lily frowned, confused. "What do you mean?" She asked. Sirius smirked and said "I could be a decoy. While the Death Eaters try to get the answers from me, the real Secret Keeper could be free to keep the secret in peace! Or at least as much peace as one can find in a war." James and Lily thought for a moment. Sirius was right, he was the obvious choice. And his idea could work, if they could find the least obvious person to be their Secret Keeper. James nodded and said "Alright, then who do you suggest we ask?" Sirius smirked and said "How about Peter? No one would ever suspect him of being the Secret Keeper, especially not if I can distract them well enough!" The trio nodded. Peter would be the perfect choice. They agreed to keep this a secret from everyone else, to be sure that their plan would work. The fewer people who knew, the fewer people would be in danger of becoming targets. Proud, they said their goodbyes to Sirius before contacting Peter. They would need to act quickly if they wanted to protect little Harry./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Less than a week had passed since that day, but Sirius' world had been turned upside down. He had gone to Peter's house for Halloween, wanting to check in on his friends, but Peter was nowhere to be found. He looked for any sign of struggle, even the smallest hint could help him figure out what happened here. When he found nothing, he became suspicious. Something was clearly wrong, but he would have to worry about that later. Now, he had to return to Godric's Hollow and check on Lily, James, and Harry. He rushed to the house as swiftly as his flying motorcycle would take him. But what he found left him speechless. The house was destroyed, completely destroyed. He carefully walked inside to find James dead on the ground floor. He was shocked, beginning to shake as he feared the worst. He moved upstairs and found Lily dead near Harry's crib. But Harry, somehow, was still alive. Sirius swept up his nephew/godson, holding him close and hiding the horrendous sight from his young eyes, and returned to the street. There, he was met by Rubeus Hagrid, who was a bit of a blubbering mess. "Hey there Sirius," Hagrid said through the tears, "That's little Harry, right?" Sirius nodded, confused, as he watched Hagrid try to pull himself together. Hagrid took a few steadying breaths and said "I've been sent by Dumbledore to take Harry to live with his Aunt and Uncle." Sirius couldn't believe it. He should be the one to take care of Harry, not the Aunt and Uncle who refused to even come to Lily's wedding! "No way! He's my godson! I'll take care of him!" He and Hagrid argued back and forth over what would be best for Harry, as Hagrid argued that Dumbledore would have the best idea of what to do while Sirius could take the time to grieve. Sirius took a breath, paused and said "Very well, then take my bike, I won't be need it for the time being." Hagrid thanked Sirius profusely, took Harry gently, and set off with the bike to Privet Drive. Sirius left the wreckage of the house, consumed with grief and rage, and set off to find the traitor who had killed his best friends./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He finally tracked down Peter in a city street, filled with muggles. Drawing his wand he shouted out "Peter! You traitor! Face me!" Peter, afraid, turned to face Sirius as he tried to form a plan of escape. He could not expect Sirius to listen to his reasoning, not in this state of mind, and he could hardly expect Sirius to understand. He would never have betrayed Lily and James if he had another choice, but Sirius would never see that. Peter would have gladly chosen death, but there had been more at stake than simply exchanging his own life for that of two of his best friends. When the plan finally formed in his mind, he silently apologised to Sirius before shouting "How could you do it Sirius? How could you betray James and Lily?" Sirius bristled with rage as he shouted back, insulting Peter, calling him out for the coward he had become. Ashamed, Peter drew his wand and watched. Once Sirius moved to cast, Peter cast first. An explosion erupted through the street, sending stones and people flying. In the cloud of dust, Peter used a quick spell to sever his own finger off. The pain was severe, but Peter felt it was the least he deserved for the choice he had made. He turned into his animagus form, vowing to find some way to make up for his mistakes, and fled into the sewer. When Sirius recovered from the shock, he found Peter gone, save for a finger, and twelve muggles dead in the street. He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. In his cell, he slowly felt his soul drain away. In one day he had lost his freedom, his friends, and his family. As he slowly succumbed to the madness, he held on to one thought; the thought of his innocence. He vowed to himself that he would find a way to prove his innocence and exact revenge upon Peter Pettigrew for all the trouble he had caused. He fell asleep, a twisted smile on his face, as the thought of justice finally being served filled his mind./span/p 


End file.
